Thrice Upon a Time
by Subtilior
Summary: Sarah has moved to a new city, and stumbles across the Goblin King one cold night. She never thought she'd see him again - and she's not happy to have him on her turf. They argue, and they make a bet in lieu of a date. What will come of it? Read on!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** Written for the Labyfic Holiday Gift Exchange, winter 2007.

I have no qualms about posting this, since it seems that everyone and their mother has identified the ficlet as my own. Bah.

Changed the title back, again, from "Third Time's the Charm" to "Thrice Upon a Time." So I'm giddy as a flibbertigibbet. So sue me.

Here were the challenge requirements:

1) Sarah out of college. Lost in a new city. Jareth is a tease. Pizza, stale coffee, and a park bench.Huge public argument. Sarah takes a gamble. Angst and romance is always welcome.

2) Blackout. No flashlights. Sarah living alone in a one bedroom apartment. Annoying, yappy pet dog. An incident involving pantyhose. Jareth answers an unspoken wish. Sexual Tension is a must!

3) Sarah, Jareth and swing set. Rain. Jareth in jeans and Sarah in a black dress.The game two truths and one lie (person says three things about his or herself and the other person has to guess which one is a lie). Romance and angst please.

The recipient was **Bambi**, who didn't reply ... sigh. If you're out there, please know that I'd love to hear from you!

**Rating:** PG-13 - light R, for language, adult situations & implications  
**Plot Summary/Author's Notes:** Sarah has moved to a new city, and stumbles across the Goblin King one cold night. She never thought she'd see him again - and she's not exactly happy to have on her turf. They argue, and ... they make a bet in lieu of a date. What will come of it? Read on and see. My thanks to **Pika** for the beta read!  
**Final note: **See author's note at the end!

* * *

**Thrice Upon a Time **

* * *

**1**

The first time Sarah saw him in her new hometown was on a cold and clear November evening.

He was sitting on the front steps of a brownstone. His hands dangled off his knees; his wrists, jutting out from his cuffs, were bony.

_Cuffs_. Sarah knew that she was gaping, but she could not stop. There was the Goblin King, in the flesh, dressed in what looked like Armani, the immaculate suit not hanging off his frame, or baggy, as she would expect on someone as gaunt as he … but instead outlining his back and one outstretched leg in elegant profile.

His face was composed, his eyes hooded – _no markings – nothing strange – _nothing strange except how unnaturally beautiful the lines of cheekbone and jaw were, how perfectly the faint smile rested on his lips, how gracefully his hands lay – and his wrists …

His wrists, with skin so pale they almost glowed against the dark fabric, were bony – and she saw the gleam of a jewel against black cloth, as he turned a hand to flick an imaginary piece of dust from his knee – the Goblin King – _here_– she could not believe it.

She did not want to believe it.

She stared, feeling as though someone had poured ice down her back. If she unclenched her jaw, she was sure her teeth would start to chatter –

The Goblin King inclined his head toward her, all vulpine smile and glittering eyes. "Good evening, Sarah."

Wordlessly, Sarah backed up a few steps. Impossible. _Impossible_. She hadn't seen him since she had defeated his Labyrinth. She had made no wish; she had called upon no one – how had he come to her? What did he want?

Sarah decided that she would not stick around to find out.

She tensed, preparing to run. Jareth noticed.

"Do stay a moment, won't you?" His voice was soft. "It has been so long since I last had the pleasure of your company."

She swallowed hard. Choked: "Not long enough."

Jareth pursed his lips and looked down at his intertwined fingers. "Debatable."

Sarah felt her stomach lurch as she saw crystal glimmerings beginning to thread between his hands.

"No it's not – it's not debatable, there's no question about it, and I _don't_ want to see you." _No, no, no _– she realized, wildly, that she could not deal with this, not now. Now was not the time for childhood fantasies to materialize and offer her her dreams … _For what price? _her mind whispered.

"Why, only a trifle, my dear." He was holding a sphere – one she_ remembered_. She stumbled backwards.

Jareth's smile was sleek. "A very _tiny _trifle … something so inconsequential that you will never miss it – and then you can have them all, sweet Sarah. Your dreams. Your wishes. Anything and everything you want."

_Everything I want_ –

After college, she had moved away – from her family, from her old house, from the setting for the gauntlet she had run in the longest thirteen hours of her life. She had never called on him, had _prided _herself on not thinking of him – at least, not intentionally – and now here he was, appearing for all the world like a normal city dweller, dressed for a night out and looking up at her with a smile that promised – that promised everything she had ever desired and denied herself –

Sarah began to tremble. "I don't believe this. I don't believe in _you_– this is _my_ city, Goblin King, _my _life, and you have no part in it. You have no power over me!"

With an exasperated sniff, he made the crystal vanish. Then Jareth straightened a cufflink. "No, I have no power over you." He tipped his head to one side. "Nor do I have a companion for the opera this evening. Care to join me?"

Her jaw dropped. "What?"

"Light opera – it's Humperdinck, I believe – truly an unfortunate name, unlike a more beautiful one that I sing to myself each night as I dream of you – _Sarah –_"

Sarah clapped her hands over her ears.

"Sarah … _Sa_-rah … won't you join me?"

"No!"

"For dinner, then …" he crooned. "Don't say 'no,' my sweet – you are far too thin …"

_Dinner_ – to her angry dismay and embarrassment, her stomach growled. Loudly. No job (yet – it would come) no roles (yet – they _would_ come) and she had taken to walking around the city, up named streets and across numbered ones, desperately, ignoring the gnawing in her body and her _mind_–

Something tickled her nostrils – the smell of – _my god, is that steak? _Steak – or curry – or lentil stew – or something else so savory that a rush of saliva had flooded her mouth.

She stared at the brownstone building – at the scent she could practically see wafting from an open window on a puff of steam. The brownstone looked cozy and inviting, its eaves frosted with snow, the bits of stained glass in its windows glowing like so many candied fruits – the golden light dripping like honey down the leaded panes set in the door – gritting her teeth, Sarah pulled her eyes away and glowered at Jareth.

"I'd rather eat pizza crusts from the trash – I'd rather drink coffee three days old – I'd rather get the worst case of food poisoning in history than eat with you, you jerk!"

"Sarah …" he sighed. "I took the trouble to make myself presentable and came only wanting to make peace, and _only_ asking you to dinner ... There's no shame in admitting that you are hungry, by the way – you look as though you want to start gnawing on this banister." He tapped one gleaming shoe against a wrought-iron rail.

Furious, she ignored the stinging in her eyes and strode off, up the sidewalk and away from him –

– or started to, for, quick as a flash, Jareth uncoiled to his feet and stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

Sarah clutched her coat tighter around her body, and told herself that the roiling in her gut was from hunger, not from anything else – certainly not at the way the lamplight caught his hair (_less wild_) in a gleam of gold, and turned his eyes (_mismatched_) into glowing sapphires as he gazed at her.

A slow smile tugged up one side of his mouth. "Why such hostility, Sarah? I only gave you what you desired, those many years ago. Why such anger for it?"

Sarah swallowed a bitter lump in her throat. "I don't have to explain myself to you." _I wasn't supposed to think of you. I wasn't supposed to remember you. I was supposed to be happy, because I won – _

Jareth looked her up and down, his eyes glinting. "One thing, I think, you could not explain away, even if you tried." He darted out a hand, and brought her own hand to his mouth and – Sarah gasped as she felt the brush of his lips – _and his tongue, oh god _– sear through her skin and set her blood on fire -

Something inside her wrenched as she yanked her hand away. "Don't _touch _me!" she spat. "Lay even _one_ of your chicken-bone fingers on me again and I'll snap it _off_, you creepy bastard!!"

"Hey, shut _up_ down there – some folks'r trying to sleep!" a voice had boomed from across the street.

Jareth had caught his hands behind his back, bending toward her in a mocking half-bow. "He has a point, you know. There's no sense in a nasty public confrontation when you can give me the tongue-lashing of your life –" another smile – "in private. And you know Sarah –" his eyes had darkened – "you _will_ come to me. You will come dine with me … eventually."

He touched his upper lip with his tongue. Sarah felt an explosion in the pit of her stomach – then, enraged with herself, she snarled: "Wanna bet?"

A purr. "I love a wager. Say on."

"I bet you that within _six_ months I will have a job, and a role in a play, and I'll be able to walk into a five-star restaurant and have people falling over themselves to help me – _all_ without any of your help."

"Really, Sarah." Another sigh. "You could save yourself so much time and trouble by just making a wish."

"That's exactly the point. I don't need you, Goblin King – I don't need you, I don't want you, and I sure as hell don't _trust_ you. So. Deal?"

Jareth's smile had vanished. "Very well. If these terms are not met by the end of six months, you will be so obliging as to take this crystal from me."

"With what consequences?"

He did not reply; merely watching her with veiled eyes.

"Fine." Her voice was tight. "And when I win, I want you gone from here. Gone from _my _city. Permanently."

His jaw clenched; then she saw both a forced smile and an extended hand. "Shake on it, then?"

"Like hell." Sarah glared at him. "There's another way to make it official, your _Majesty_."

He went still, his eyes slits. "Jareth will do."

She did not reply. Instead, she spat at his feet. "There, _Jareth_. Sealed."

"Such insolence," he breathed. "How should I punish you for it?"

Sarah bared her teeth. "You don't scare me. I defeated you once, and I'll defeat you again – You have no power over me and _I don't need you!_"

"No?" Jareth's lips curled. "Very well. Do enjoy your crusts, my dear." His eyes burned down into hers – alight with a look she did not want to think about – "We shall have to discuss their flavor and preparation over dinner some other time, hm?"

"In your dreams, Jareth."

And Sarah turned her back and walked away. Not looking over her shoulder. Not waiting to see the expression on his face.

* * *

_nibble, nibble, like a mouse / who is nibbling at my house?_

_who's singing? _

_those little wretches again – but they were so happy to see you, dearest, that you cannot fault them for their music –_

_mmmm. I guess not – wait … what are you doing? _

he's holding a peach, she realizes – _why is it always a peach_ – and in his hand it ripples and dissolves into golden-orange liquid, which oozes over his fingers as he coasts them up and down her legs – and then he wipes his hand on her stomach and grins up at her, bends his head and begins to lick the juice dripping down the angle of one of her knees –

she gasps in surprise, because his tongue scratches, like a cat's

_what is it?_

_nothing – it's just – holy god, if you keep doing that, I won't be able to stand up – _

she hears him laugh

_you will not stand for quite a while, sweet, if I have anything to do with it_ – _and I will –_

and she realizes that she's lying down, somehow things have shifted and turned upside down, or is it right side up? she doesn't know, and she can't think clearly, because she's staring into his glittering eyes, and his breath is warm on her face as his lips curl into a smile and he murmurs

_hungry?_

she grins back at him, and then bends her neck to bite down, gently, on his shoulder – he hisses, and she whispers against his skin

_starving – _

his fingers press into her jaw, turn her face back to him

_then kiss me …_

she does – and he tastes like everything she's ever dreamed of, and desired, and wished for – and she clutches his shoulders – the skin warm and sticky with peach juice? or sweat? – she doesn't know, and she can't decide which, because his mouth is so

_delicious_ –

she hears her own voice husk, and he whispers

_sweet –_

* * *

The next day, Sarah went through rounds of auditions and a few callbacks with an odd taste in her mouth – bittersweet, and strange. Her mouth itself had felt pulpy upon her waking up that morning.

She chalked it up to being unable to afford toothpaste.

* * *

**2**

The second time Sarah saw him in her new hometown was on a dark and stormy night.

It was mid February, and she hadn't found a job, and – Sarah yelped as she barked her shin on a step – and it was freezing cold, and snowing, _and_ the power was out.

"Insult to injury, I guess …" With a sigh, she walked up the stairway, shivering. Her tights were beyond hope, since she had received the Run of the Century after snagging one leg on a nail at rehearsal today –

_Rehearsal!_ She hugged the word to herself._ Rehearsal! One down, only two more to go_–

Although as wagers went, it was pretty stupid – there was ample time for her to accomplish everything – Sarah frowned at her thoughts. Useless, thinking of the Goblin King – although she was more and more, these days – _god knows why – it's useless, pointless, and _– and her frown deepened. _More like playing right into his hands_.

_His fine-boned, elegant, capable-looking hands – he hadn't been wearing gloves that night on the brownstone steps – you saw that, didn't you?_

She pinched herself. _Get over it._

Sarah ascended the stairs; they wound up, and up; higher and higher … It was pitch-black, but she was not afraid of the dark; ever since the Cleaners had clacked their ravenous way down the tunnel at her, she had been afraid of very little.

Even if she hadn't known that her miniscule apartment was on the topmost floor, she could have guided herself there with her neighbor's stupid dog as a lodestone. _Yap – yap – yap _– one of these days, Sarah would barbeque the mutt, and the entire building would thank her for it.

_Yap – yap – yap _– louder and louder, until she reached her door, groaning: "Shut _up_, for the love of all that's holy – I wish you would just –"

_No!_

Sarah hissed in a breath. _That was close_. She unlocked the door with trembling fingers (difficult in the dark, had she not done it a thousand times before) and stepped inside.

_No wishes_.

"No wishing for _anything_," she said to herself. He wanted her to, after all. Sarah bit her lip, tossing her purse in the general direction of her front closet and feeling for the refrigerator, and then the table, and then the doorway to her bedroom. She wasn't stupid – he was just looking for an excuse to play games, the bastard, and she wouldn't give him one.

_I'm not fifteen anymore …_

_Fifteen_. Sarah sighed, kicking her shoes off and standing on one foot to massage the other heel. What had she wanted, when she was fourteen? A pretty dress, a ballroom dance, and a Prince Charming with a disturbing resemblance to her mother's co-star. And she had gotten them … in a way …

Sarah grimaced at the memory and felt her way to her dresser. _I could have sworn I had a flashlight there _…

She fumbled through underwear and socks. No flashlight. _Figures_.

With another sigh, she shimmied out of her jeans and draped them on a chair. Her sweater and shirt followed. Then Sarah reached for her pajamas on their hook –

"Oh,_ shit_ – not tonight – _tell _me they're there … come on –"

She stomped towards the door, ran into the frame – _ouch_– and made her way to the bathroom. There were her pajamas, hanging on the doorknob.

_False alarm, I guess._

_("Beware, for the path you take will lead to certain destruction –")_

Sarah blinked, shaking her head to clear it. Where had that come from?

She brushed her teeth and washed her face. Halfway back to her bedroom, she realized –

The dog had stopped yelping.

Sarah sat down on her bed and exhaled long and loud, not realizing how tense she had been. _But why? _"Thank God for small mercies, anyway," she mumbled, grabbing a handful of blankets and drawing them around herself. She shivered – although it wasn't really cold in her bed, and that was odd, given how frigid it was in the room …

_Wait a minute …_

She gulped. _Why _was it so warm? Nervously, Sarah reached for her pillow –

– felt bare skin –

She screamed.

"_What?!"_

"And I just got that dog to be quiet." A plaintive voice reached her, where she had thrown herself out of the bed and backwards against the wall.

Disbelieving, Sarah wrapped her arms around herself. She could hardly speak, through the chattering of her teeth. "Who is that?"

"Oh, you know very well who it is."

She did. She _did_. And that voice belonged to that unmitigated _bastard_ of a Goblin King, who wouldn't leave well enough _alone_ –

"Has it been six months already?" she hissed. "Or do you have trouble counting that high?"

Sarah heard a slight laugh, from her bed. "And here I thought you'd be happy to see me – in the flesh …"

"Why the _hell_ would I be happy to see you?" She couldn't see anything, in the pitch-black room, and the fact that she was as good as blind made her skin crawl –

"You have nothing to fear from me, Sarah." His voice was low. "I'm only here because you made a wish."

"I did _no _such thing!"

"Oh yes you did." It was amazing, Sarah thought distractedly, how his words sliced through the rustle of her sheets, even though the latter sounded as loud as a rattlesnake warning her away –

Jareth continued. "You wished, however unconsciously, that you could sleep in a nice, _warm _bed. And out of my overwhelming beneficence, I have chosen to fulfill your desire."

Sarah's skin tingled; she clutched at her pajamas and snarled: "_Bullshit_. I'm sure I wish for a lot of things, Goblin King, but I haven't said the words since – since that one day."

"'That one day' – hm." His voice sounded smug. "What an enjoyable day that _was_, my dear."

"I liked the last minute of it best –"

Jareth cut her off. "The words – Sarah, if it were as simple as an "I wish," I would be run mad within a week. As it is, I take the occasional child when someone uses the formula you most effectively did so long ago … and as for the others, I grant a wish or two, however unconscious or awkwardly phrased, when it most amuses me."

"So I'm an amusement, am I?"

She could hear the smile in his voice. "Only the best sort."

"Goblin King, _why_ do I have the sneaking suspicion that you're making this up as you go?"

"Really, Sarah, are you so timid these days?"

"What?"

"Timid. Cowardly. Afraid …" Jareth spoke low and honey-sweet. "_Chicken_."

Fury shot up from her heart to her head. Wordlessly, Sarah stomped back to her bed, threw back the covers, climbed in, and made herself comfortable with exaggerated gestures. The blankets tucked up to her chin, she fell back on her pillow and looked into the dark with narrowed eyes.

"I am _not _a coward."

"No …" His voice was so close to her ear that she almost flinched, despite herself. "Nor are you the sort to hurtle headstrong into a trap … are you?"

"Trap?" Sarah laughed. "You have no power over me, and all we have is a wager with three months left to go on it. Do your worst."

"My worst, hm?" Jareth moved even closer; she felt his warm breath on her lips and shivered. "Do you have any idea what you're asking?"

"I'm not asking anything. I'm _telling_ you that my bed is nice and warm – thank you –" she snuggled deeper within the blankets and squeezed her eyes shut – "so you can vanish now. Fade out. Go _poof_, or whatever –"

And Sarah's voice caught in her throat as she felt Jareth gently brush a kiss over one of her eyelids. The warm, fluttering sensation stole her breath away – and then he did the same thing to her other eye, and her entire body tightened.

"Stop," she said, her teeth clenched.

He drew back. Sarah waited for a moment – it felt like an hour – before opening her eyes.

She gasped. For where, before, there had been only darkness, now she could see – she saw Jareth watching her, his jaw propped on one hand, and the other draped over her – she hadn't been able to feel it, through the covers.

His jaw, his hands, his arms, his shoulders – all pale, but gilded by the light – his skin was like white gold – his skin, because he was _naked_ –

_God, he's beautiful_. Sarah tried to swallow, but could not. Her mouth was parched. The way his eyes held hers, the way he seemed to glow, strangely – like the first star shining at sunset, or like snow in lamplight – words were escaping her – she could not seem to describe something as simple as the fall of his hair across his hand, as the angle of his jaw, which changed as he moved his fingers to –

Jareth traced his fingertips across her forehead, and brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes. "Good evening, Sarah."

She found the words. "No – what you're looking for is: "'Good-bye, Sarah.'"

He grinned, and her heart thumped at the glint of his teeth. "So soon?"

"_Yes_, Goblin King, so get lost."

"Really? Are you sure you would not like me to stay, and kiss you again?"

He trailed his lips over her cheek. Sarah bit down hard on her lower lip.

"… like a peach – _sweet_ ..."

"Jareth, go find a fruit basket to molest someplace _else_, and leave me alone."

"Why?"

"First, because I told you to. Second, because you have no power over me. And third – because I have a job interview tomorrow morning, and I need to sleep."

His eyes flickered. "A job interview?"

"Yep." Sarah shook free of his hand on the side of her face, and raised her chin in defiance. "Item number two. You're that much closer to losing your wager, Goblin King."

When he spoke again, after a pause, Jareth's voice was quiet. "Then let it never be said that I kept you from your beauty sleep – not that you need it, my Sarah – my love –"

"Oh, dream _on_, you –" She stopped, with a muffled cry, as Jareth wound his fingers in her hair and tugged her closer so he could whisper in her ear –

"_My_ Sarah." The Goblin King's breath was hot; she felt goose bumps prickle down her spine. "My beautiful, shining Sarah – my own – I wish you nothing but the best in your interview, in your new city, in your lovely little _life –_" he hissed the word as he brushed his fingers across her eyes, as fast as light – or the absence of light, because it was dark again and she was falling asleep.

Jareth's voice came from far away; she could hardly hear it.

"Nothing but the best in your life, precious thing – nothing but the best in your dreams."

* * *

_may I have this dance?_

_do you even need to ask?_

his smile wraps her in warmth, but his eyes – _those eyes_ – promise something more, with their fire –

she places one hand on his shoulder and takes his own hand – _gloves – why is he wearing gloves – _in the other –

she's wearing a white dress – puffy sleeves, and puffed-out skirt looking as though it had been caught in a blizzard of lace – _why is it always this dress – _and he wears the same blue-silver coat that dazzles her eyes – his free hand grips her waist and she feels each finger burn through a layer of _glove_, and _dress_, and _leather _and_ lace_ and all the fabrics and thoughts are whirling through her head even as figures whirl past them, caught up in the dance

she makes a small noise in her throat, and arches into him, as his hand snakes around to the small of her back and presses her body against his

he tears his other hand from her own and grabs the back of her neck, and he kisses her and it's like everything, _everything_ she's ever wanted, and desired, and wished for

she feels his glove at her neck _change_ and float away as a piece of cloth – she gasps

_what is it?_

_how did you do that?_

she hears him laugh

_magic –_

and the other glove whisks away – his coat and her gown stream out and unwind, unravel, become undone in a gust of wind – and streamers of cloth, puffs of silk and clots of lace float down around them and she realizes that she's lying down in a nest of fabric, somehow things have shifted and turned upside down, or is it right side up? she doesn't know, and she can't think clearly, because she's staring into his glittering eyes, and his breath is warm on her face as his lips curl into a smile and he murmurs

_may I have **this** dance?_

she smiles back at him, and throws out her arms against velvet, satin, lace, gauze – whirling around them in a storm –

_do you even need to ask?_

his eyes flare, and he brushes his lips across hers

_kiss me …_

she does – and she runs her hands up and down his back – his skin feels like silk made flesh, and they move together in

_this dance – this dance is so –_

she hears her own voice husk, and he breathes against her neck

_no words, precious thing –_

* * *

Sarah woke early on the day of her interview. She turned on the light, happy to see the electricity restored. Then she went to shower, and to dress.

She paused in front of her closet mirror before she left. Paused, and stared.

Everything was normal – dress suit and scarf, nylons and heels in perfect order.

But for a split second, it had looked as though her shoes were completely worn through.

* * *

**3**

The third time – the last time – she saw him in her hometown was on a beautiful May day.

Sarah kicked her legs and grinned up at the rainbow zigzagging back and forth across the sky. _Up and down_._Up and down_. Who knew that a swing could be so therapeutic – she had not been on one for years and years, and certainly not since she moved to the city.

She looked at her legs, stretched out, then curling back in, and out, and in, in front of her, whisking against her black dress.

_I look good_. More than good – _great_. Great in a job as a docent, great onstage, great on the front page of the Arts and Entertainment section, and greatest at the _Porte d'Or_ – the restaurant where she and the director had gone last night, and where she had received an offer of another role –

Her grin widened and she kicked harder. She had won. The wager was over and done, because she had _won_, and there was nothing that a certain King could do about it –

"Good afternoon, Sarah."

_Speak of the devil _–

She smirked down at Jareth, watching him go back and forth, back and forth out of the corner of her eye. "Well, if it isn't you …"

The Goblin King stood immobile. Sarah looked at him fully, and let him wait for a few moments. Then she stretched out her feet and let them drag on the ground, slowing the swing until it stopped.

"Come to change the terms, or something?" she snipped. "It would be like you."

"Not at all."

His voice was flat. Sarah frowned, considering him. He looked – odd. Washed out. Maybe it was the clouds that had moved over the sun – _spoilsport_, Sarah thought – _bringing bad weather_. It wasn't the clothes, although they were a different choice than usual – suit jacket, torn jeans, and scuffed shoes – different from his finery in the Labyrinth, different from the suit he had worn on the brownstone steps …

_Definitely_ different from the last time she had seen him – that night in February, when he had been wearing nothing at all.

Sarah yanked her mind back from that train of thought, and smirked again. "Not your normal sparkly self today, Goblin King?"

Jareth's jaw tightened. "It isn't every day that I lose."

"No," she sighed. "Well, that's life. What have you come to say to me?"

He shrugged. "You win."

"Yep. Anything else?"

Jareth tipped his head to one side. "Will you dine with me this evening?"

She laughed, disbelieving. "You think you can get lucky, now, when you leave my city _forever_, according to our wager – you honestly think that?"

He said nothing – merely watched her.

"_No_." She glared. "Even if I did want to go out with you – which I_ don't_ – I have to visit my grandmother tonight."

"I did not know you had relations here."

"I don't, really – I have to take the train."

"Ah."

"But –" Sarah stepped off the swing. "This is beside the point, Goblin King. I won – and now you leave."

"Your city, yes." Jareth inclined his head. "You will never see me here again."

She sniffed. "And you can't weasel out of that one."

His lips twitched up – but his smile had no warmth in it at all.

Sarah shifted under his level gaze. "All right. Enough. Time for you to go."

"I have one more question, for you."

"Only because I'm gracious in victory …" She swept him a curtsey, and grinned up at his glare. "Ask away."

"Do you remember any of them?"

Sarah blinked. "Any of what?"

His smile lit his eyes, but it was a gleaming light that made the hairs on the back of her neck bristle.

"Any of your dreams, of course."

"My dreams?"

"Yes, Sarah …" The Goblin King stepped towards her; she instinctively backed away. "Your dreams … dreams in which I dine with you, in which I dance with you …" He gently took her wrist. "Dreams in which I love you …"

"What?"

"Hm. Fine – a correction, then. Dreams in which I make love to you –_with_ you … All night long, I might add." His stare glittered at her, and his bared teeth looked feral. "You are an insatiable woman."

Sarah jerked her hand free. "I don't believe you."

"No?" Jareth stepped so close to her that she felt her breath run away, as she felt she should – _run away, run away _– even as he kissed her cheek, and murmured in her ear. "You say that, but you know the truth …"

_No I don't – he's lying – _"You don't know truth, Jareth –" she bit out, holding herself rigid against his hands gliding down her neck to rest on her shoulders. "You can't handle any truth – you with your twisted little maze and your dreams and your _games_ – wait." She batted away his hands. "If you want truth, then we can play a game right now."

His eyebrows flew up. "A game?"

"_Yes_, a game. Two truths and a lie." Sarah marched back to the swing, sat down, and looked up at the darkening sky. "We say three things, but two of them are true, and –"

"One of them is a lie; I gathered that." Jareth crossed his arms on his chest. "You first."

"Fine. I'm visiting my grandmother tonight. And," Sarah gathered her thoughts. "_If_ I dream of you – and it's a big "if" – it's my own overactive imagination and hormones, nothing more …"

Jareth waited. "That's only two, you know."

"Right. Last night I broke into my neighbor's apartment, caught her dog, tore it limb from limb, and ate it." She smiled at him, tightly. "Two truths and a lie, Goblin King – which is which?"

Her smile faded as she saw Jareth look off into space, considering.

"It's really not that difficult, you know."

"Quite." Jareth's mouth thinned. "You lie when you speak thus of the dog. As cruel as you are, my precious thing, you are not quite capable of killing in cold blood and feasting on bones and gore."

"Very good. So you see the truth, Goblin King? I don't love you, I don't_ desire_ you, and if you think I dance through dreams with you, let alone fuck you every night, you're deluding yourself."

"Am I?"

His voice was so quiet she had almost missed it. Nonetheless, she glared. "Afraid so. Your turn, your _Majesty_."

The Goblin King was still for a long moment.

"Any day now."

He hissed. "I hate you."

Even though Sarah was sitting, she felt her knees tremble.

But she made her voice light. "Whew, _scary_. What's the next one?"

His lips twisted. "I love you."

_Scarier_, said her mind. But she only shrugged. "Mm-hm. And number three?"

Jareth paused. Then he smiled.

"Your grandmother is in excellent health."

"Well, I know _that_," Sarah said, nettled. "But for the others – well, _shit_, Goblin King – how am I supposed to know which is true? Oh, wait: I know, because of this."

She got to her feet, walked over to him, and stared up into his eyes. "You hate me. That's the truth. Because you can't love, Jareth – you can't, and you know it, because wanting someone isn't the same as loving them. And that makes you hate me even more."

He said nothing, but she saw his rigid stance, and knew that she had hit a nerve. "Besides," she said lightly. "I don't think you can hold two contradictory thoughts in your head at once."

"You'd be surprised."

"_Nothing_you do could surprise me, Goblin King."

"Really."

"I –" Sarah's snarl was cut off, as a roll of thunder sounded. "_Crap_. I have to catch the train and I don't want to go in a downpour –" She bent to grab her coat and suitcase, propped against the swing-set. A drop of rain fell; then another, then a patter began. "_Damn_it."

"Here."

And Sarah blinked up at Jareth, who had unfolded an umbrella and now held it over their heads.

"Um." She brushed raindrops off her forehead and shrugged herself into her coat. "Thanks."

Jareth looked at her coolly. "You're welcome."

Sarah blinked again. "Well, I have to go, but –" she grabbed her suitcase and firmed her resolve. "Tell me, something, Goblin King – and tell me the truth."

Jareth was silent, waiting for her to speak.

"What was in it, for you? "A trifle," you said – a trifle for my dreams, my desires … all my wishes come true. What was it?"

She heard the patter of rain turn into a cascade, on the umbrella. The wan afternoon light shone through the thin red plastic, painting part of Jareth's face in crimson.

"A crystal, and a kiss."

"A crystal and a kiss? That's it?" Sarah huffed in disbelief. "The _truth_, I said. Those two for a boatload of dreams doesn't seem like an even –"

"A crystal – a gift – out of the generosity of my heart … and a kiss to make your dreams come true …" Jareth's voice was low, meditative. "A trifle they may seem to you. But to me, that gift and that kiss would have sealed with your heart all of your wishes, all of your desires – all of your dreams … the same dreams in which we feast, and dance, and love through the night …"

She gazed at him, mesmerized despite herself.

"And you have one wish, Sarah that I would take great pleasure in granting – one desire that you never voice, that you never even _think_…"

"And that is?"

Jareth's sharp teeth gleamed in the red light. "That you would be mine. Forever."

For a long moment, Sarah stared at him, aghast.

The wind blew a gust of rain against her neck, and her skin crawled. "You're lying."

"You asked for the truth. And, Sarah –"

The Goblin King stepped closer, and his free hand fluttered and twisted to pull a crystal from flying raindrops. She froze.

"It is not too late. Take this from me –" he held the crystal before her eyes; she saw his whitened knuckles. "Take my gift, and kiss me, my sweet Sarah – kiss me and all of your dreams and wishes will come true. Kiss me, and I will give you what you desire – not your sweet, innocent heart's _fondest _little wish, but the dream of the dark side of your soul …"

Light shining through the umbrella splashed across his mouth, like blood. His mouth – drawing closer, and closer, and _oh, God_ she could remember what it had been like in her dreams –

_That's a __**lie!**_ Sarah shoved him away. "You have no power over me!"

Jareth snarled and threw the crystal from him. "I _know_ – and thus it has been for our first contest, and our second, but Sarah …"

His mouth twisted from anger into a strange relish –

"Sarah – I think that our third contest will prove _different_."

"No it won't," she spat, "because I'm going away, _right _now, and I'm going to get therapy or hypnosis or something to take care of those dreams – if they _do_ exist, which they _don't_ – and I'm _never_ going to see you again, waking or sleeping. Good-bye, and good riddance!"

She turned with her suitcase and strode off into the rain.

"Sarah –"

_Don't turn around, don't turn around – he just wants the last word –_

"Sarah, please –"

She turned. "What?"

Jareth was holding out the umbrella to her. "I would hate to have you catch a cold before our final battle." He quirked a half smile at her snarl. "Whenever that may be."

Sarah looked at him, her skin prickling with unease – _or maybe it's just the rain. It's pouring. It's just an umbrella. It won't bite_.

Carefully, she took the umbrella. Unfolded it, and hoisted it above her head. "Thanks again," she said, sarcastically.

His eyes were steady on hers. "Think nothing of it."

Sarah blinked, and shook her head to clear it. She was relieved to see that the hand holding her umbrella was steady, even though she felt … strange, somehow. Like something was tickling at her mind – something important she should remember –

_Who cares?_ she thought._ You won. Time to go._

"Good-bye, Goblin King."

"Farewell, Sarah."

He bowed to her.

"And do give my regards to your grandmother."

* * *

Sarah made it to the station in good time. She stood on the chilly platform, waiting for the train.

_He was lying.** Lying** to you. The bastard was just angry because he lost._

"Lost the first time, lost the second," Sarah murmured to herself. "Third time? What the hell – if there's a third time, he'll lose." She twirled her umbrella's curved handle – back and forth, back and forth. Raindrops flew from its spines. "Third time's the charm, Goblin King."

She fumbled in her coat pocket for her gloves; it was getting colder._ There_– she took out the gloves, and then, frowning, looked at her cell phone.

"Shit." She had turned it off for dinner last night, and forgotten to turn it back on – "Seven missed calls. _Seven_– what on earth –"

Sarah flipped the phone open. Seven missed calls. All from her mother. She shrugged, and put the phone back in her pocket. "Probably can't find Gran's slippers –"

A whistle sounded. Sarah stepped back as the train chugged into the station, and ground to a halt. She smiled as she realized that she didn't even have to move to get to the door.

Staring at the dull metal, waiting for the door to open, Sarah twirled her umbrella. Back and forth, back and forth. The red plastic behind her head looked like a halo – the world's biggest hat –

"Skin white as snow," she whispered. "Hair black as ebony. And –" she grinned at her reflection. "Umbrella red as blood."

Fairy tales. Wicked stepmothers, glass slippers, fairy godmothers and harps of gold. Little children lost in the woods. Worn-out shoes. Lips red as blood. Goblin Kings –

"Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be …" she whispered even more quietly. "I wish that you would realize that you're a fairy tale, and that I'm all grown up – and –" she smiled to herself, at her own melodrama "– that desire and love are two different things …"

The doors opened with a _whoosh_. Sighing, Sarah closed her umbrella and hoisted her suitcase. She would find a good seat. She would return her mother's calls, and talk to Gran on the phone –

– and would leave off thinking of fairy tales – she yawned – _maybe take a nap_ – while riding on a train that would carry her out of the city and into the country, over the river and through the woods, to her grandmother's house far, far away.

* * *

**Author's note**: Jareth's cat tongue is taken from **Lucilla Darkate**'s "Not Long At All"

Find the fairy tales, my pretties ... -grin-

Oh ... and do you want me to continue? If you do, there's a relevant poll on my profile page.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing of _Labyrinth_, Jareth, Sarah, crystal orbs, or oubliettes. Any obvious train-related engineering flaws are my mistakes; I've done a bit of guess-hazarding.

Rated: **T **for bad language.

I'm glad to be back with this fic. Read and review - I long for your feedback, and who knows? It may lead me to update more quickly.

Thanks to **Imbrium** for the crit. Also: **KnifeEdge**? Your turn.

* * *

**Thrice Upon a Time**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave ..."

Sarah looked into his eyes – those _strange_ eyes, flashing at her from beneath the upswept brows in that hatchet face … that strange face, his strange form already turning into that of an owl …

And when an owl, he would fly away from her …

Were those feathers braided into his hair? Or hair braided into feathers? Or were they all turning, the one into the other, even as he would turn, and fly, and she would turn, and leave?

She felt a hard lump in her throat. She would leave, and all the magic would fly from her world, away with him, to where it belonged. No longer with her, but with him …

"Farewell ..." she thought. "Farewell, forever ..."

Sarah knew she would say the words. "My will is as strong as yours; my kingdom as great," and then, and then – "You have no power over me!" And the magic would be gone, flown away like a ghost fleeing the morning.

She closed her eyes at the sorrow of it – the weight of the moment of change – the step that would take her from being a child to being grown-up. A small step, a simple one, but irrevocable.

"Sarah?" His breath was warm on her hair.

… _wait__ …_

Her eyes flew open. _How _–_ how __did I__ –_

She had taken one step forward, and he was _there_, his eyes glittering into hers from where he stood, poised to fly, his face less than a hands-breadth from her own.

Looking back into his eyes, Sarah realized that this victory – _you have no power over me _– this victory meant he would be gone, that he and magic would fly away together, and she would never see either again -

Moved by an impulse she did not understand, as the lump in her throat sank and grew into an ache in her heart, she reached up to touch his cheek.

Jareth's eyes widened.

The flutter of change around him paused – time seemed to slow – and she could almost _smell_ the magic, crackling between them like ozone, drawing as tight as a rope pulled taut –

"Goodbye," Sarah whispered. Then she stood on tiptoe, and kissed him.

A strange sound. A **snap**, or maybe it was a spark – something that she saw, like lightning, but small? - but her eyes were closed - all she felt was the _strangeness_ of her lips pressed on his. It was like trying to kiss ice, or a red-hot coal – a hummingbird flutter against her mouth – something unreal, something quicksilver, changing too fast for her to catch, but centered on her, flying rapid circles around her – too fast – she felt dizzy – she didn't understand –

Jareth snatched her wrist in a grip like iron, and she yelped, because it hurt.

"What are you –"

But then she looked into his eyes.

And Sarah didn't need to see their blaze, didn't need to feel his other hand catch her shoulder before she could run – didn't need to hear the clock's gears grind and fall into the hour with a crash and a _clang_ –

She didn't need to understand Jareth's smile to realize that she had just made a terrible mistake.

* * *

"_No –"_

Her eyes flew open as she woke with a jerk.

Trees were moving past the window in a dark blur. Rain pattered down the glass, and a foggy patch marked where she had breathed in her sleep.

Her neighbor was engrossed in the crossword and listening to music. An old woman near the front of the train car was knitting; a young girl with a mop of yellow hair was reading a book. Her neck had a crick in it. She was safe – on the train …

And the memory … her dream …

_That dream _…

Sarah wound her fingers together and shook her head once, hard. She hadn't had it in such a long time, and yet there it was. The dream of –

She stared down at her whitened knuckles.

"The wrong choice."

Hearing her own voice, quiet but steady, reassured her, helped her quash the memory.

_A false memory. A lie. Because it never happened._

"Wrong choice," Sarah told herself, lightly. "Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave – oh, but forget about the baby, Sarah. Forget about your home Sarah. Forget about your life, forget about your mind, forget about everything but me, me, _me _–"

She broke off as the intercom crackled to life.

"Greenfield, next stop. All for Greenfield. Please check for all your bags before leaving the train. Greenfield is next."

Her seatmate took off his iPod and folded his newspaper, lumbered to his feet, stepped to the car exit without a backward glance.

Feeling strangely blank, Sarah hoisted her purse from between her feet and let it fall into the now-empty place beside her. She cast an eye to the cordoned-off luggage area to check on her suitcase – _fine_ – and glanced down at her red umbrella, lying in a puddle on the floor – _also fine_ –

"Everything's fine," she whispered. "It's over. I won – again – and he's gone for good. He's gone – he's a _fairy _tale, for God's sake –"

Sarah cut herself off and stared out of the window. Sometime in the middle of her distraction, the train had begun to move again. The trees flickered, too fast to see, even had it been light outside – which it wasn't …

She shivered. _So dark_ … An early evening in May, and it was dark as night …

A rumble of thunder explained why, and a sudden gust of wind made the train car rock slightly.

"Everything's _fine_," Sarah told herself.

Why, then, did she feel so nervous?

Sarah glared at her dim reflection in the window, as thunder growled again. "Ooh, I'm _so_ scared." She clapped a hand to her face. "It was a dark and stormy night, and our intrepid heroine knew that the forces of evil would do anything to keep her from getting to her grandmother's hou – _oh _!"

_Oh, shit – __**shit**__, I forget when I fell asleep_ –

She had dozed off after boarding the train, cushioned in her coat from the unseasonable chill. And she had forgotten to return her mother's calls – _shit _– _what if it's important? _– Sarah rummaged through her purse for her cell phone, and then checked her pockets. It was a matter of seconds to find the missed calls – _that's right – __**seven**__ of them – what could_ – and to punch the right button.

The other end rang.

"Come on …"

It kept ringing.

"Come on, Linda," Sarah muttered. "Pick up. Pick up."

As if on cue, her mother's voice sounded over the line.

"Hello – _hello_ who's this?"

"Mom? It's Sarah."

"_Sarah_ – Sarah, honey, where are you?!" The voice was frantic.

Sarah blinked. "Mom – I'm on the train –"

"I've been trying and trying to call you – Sarah honey, your grandmother –"

The line went out, with a crackle and hiss of static.

Sarah jerked her ear away from the phone, cursing, and glanced out the window. Blackness, with the occasional orange light flying by –

"_Damn_ it, the mountain tunnel … and that's it for three minutes!" She slapped the phone shut. "Shit, mom – 'your grandmother' what? _What?_"

An unpleasant mix of fear – _what is it _– guilt – _I should have called earlier_ – and anger – _that __**tunnel**__ – _made her slam one fist against the window.

The neon lights inside the train flickered. Sarah inhaled, and looked back into the car.

The towheaded girl had glanced up from her book, and the old woman had put her knitting in her lap. The girl was asking a question, her voice high-pitched – "What is it, grandma?" – and it skirled upward into a squeak as the lights flickered again, and again – and went out.

The old woman quavered, "I'm sure it will be fine, pumpkin."

A voice came on the intercom, as the train ground to a halt. "Ladies and gentlemen, you've noticed the lights – well, we've got a problem with the main fuse box, so just sit tight and enjoy back-up power while we fix it. No trouble at all, and we'll get back on our way within minutes. Thank you."

Emergency lights powered up with a snap and hiss, outlining the aisles and exits, and nothing more, in red.

"There, you see?" The older voice sounded relieved. "Just sit tight."

"Right –" the girl giggled.

"I know _I _don't feel like laughing," Sarah grumped, turning back to the window. Then she gave herself a rueful smile. "Or maybe I do." She opened her phone again. "From absolute victory to _this _– our heroine, reduced to a Rail Sale fare, and stuck on a train with a wonky lighting system, still looks good –" she struck a pose, then soldiered on – "_still_ looks _damn_ good, even in the grim artificial light of a cellular phone …"

She held the phone up, with a flourish, and let the dim blue screen light play over her features.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm ready for my close-up …" Sarah laughed, half-heartedly, but then stopped.

The back of her neck prickled, as she realized that she could not see her own eyes.

Their sockets were pools of shadow, and her skin had an unearthly blue tinge.

"Or not." She looked away from her window as she shut the phone and put it deep in her pocket. Ready to snatch, as soon as they got out of the tunnel –

"C'mon, hurry up already …"

Sarah hunched her shoulders in her coat, against the chill, stared up at the ceiling – _can't see it, the lights are out, earth to Sarah _– then glanced back at the window with a smile, a smile that froze as –

Jareth smiled back.

* * *

"No!"

Her own shriek echoed in her ears, as she landed painfully in the aisle after shoving herself away from the window. She fought for breath, gasping, half-crying – "No, it can't be – it can't be because I won – I _won_, damn him!"

Sarah scrabbled backwards, clambered onto the bench across the aisle from her seat. The window was now blank and dark. Her own face was still visible – a white disk, smaller, since she was further away.

She gulped in air. He had been behind her shoulder, so then, she should have bumped into him when she had jerked backwards.

"But I didn't …" Shakily, she sat up. "I didn't feel him. I didn't touch him. He wasn't there."

Her voice sounded feeble, to her own ears.

Sarah glared at her distant reflection and spoke louder. "He wasn't there – he _isn't here_ – because I _**won**_!"

The last word was a shout.

Self-conscious, Sarah looked over her shoulder to the two passengers near the front of the train car. Even in the gloom, she could see them lying half-slumped in their seats. The old woman had dropped her knitting; the girl's head drooped forward, like a dandelion flower too heavy for its stem.

"Oh, _god_, no," Sarah breathed. "No …"

Before she could think twice, she heaved herself up from the bench with both arms, took one long step and gripped the cold metal struts of her original bench. There was her own face again, dreadfully white, and – _I can't see my eyes –_

"_No_," she spat. "I'm not afraid." She clenched her cold hands into fists.

And she gritted her teeth to keep them from chattering as the Goblin King's face shimmered into being behind her, over her shoulder – and not just his face, but his entire body. She saw the decaying armor that she remembered, the high-collared cloak, ghostly and insubstantial in the window, marred by streaks of mud on the glass.

"I'm not afraid of you, you bastard," Sarah hissed.

Jareth's reflection smiled.

_You should be_.

Sarah gasped, both at the sensation of his words in her mind – _god, it's cold, or hot, what is it – _and at their reflection. For the image of the Goblin King had been at her shoulder, his head tilted slightly, but then she blinked and he was flush against her back, his hands on her upper arms and his mouth at her ear – surely, _surely_ that was the only reason his whisper had crawled into her mind from so goddamned _close_ –

She turned her head carefully to the left. He should be there – right here – but she saw nothing except darkness.

Instinct made her glance out of the corner of her eye, back at her reflection, and she froze as she saw Jareth tracing her jaw with one thumb, his left arm crooked around her own, and the silvery cloak fluttering around her as he angled his head to meet her lips in a kiss.

Sarah yelped, and twisted away. Then she stared at the window, aghast, as the Goblin King grinned and rested his forehead against her hair.

She found her voice, and whispered, "Stop."

Jareth slanted his eyes to hers, and bared his teeth.

_**Make**__ me._

"You have no power over me, you rat bastard, so _leave_!"

The Goblin King's grin made her skin crawl.

_I have a much better idea, precious thing …_

His sibilant voice should have been tangible, but she felt nothing on her skin – felt nothing but a white-hot ice-cold needle slicing through her thoughts.

_Sarah … my sweet Sarah … I shall do as you wish._

She saw his reflection trace one hand along her hair, and then the Goblin King kissed her temple and her stomach lurched.

_I shall leave you. But then _–

He quirked one eyebrow and grinned at her again

_Then you had better come find me _– _and find me quickly. After all, my dear, I wish to discuss … terms._

Sarah licked her lips. "Terms?"

_Yes_ –

One gauntlet rested on her hair, and the other spread wide at the base of her throat, stark black on white.

_I wish to discuss the terms of your surrender_.

For a long moment, she hardly breathed. Then she violently threw off his hands – _nothing there, nothing there –_

"Bullshit! I won, Goblin King, and you had to leave –

_your city, yes. I did, precious. But I also took the liberty of joining you on this train at the next borough. _

She felt her jaw drop. "You – you _cheat_!"

Jareth shook his head; the ghostly mane of hair fluttered. His smile was cold.

_I do not cheat, Sarah. I merely take advantage of foolishness_. _And now, my pretty fool, come find me. Use my gift to you – the one you were so obliging as to accept from me …_

"Liar – I never –" Sarah choked, remembering – _thanks – think nothing of it _– and bent, scrabbled for the umbrella, grabbed it in a panicked flurry and stood back up. She stared at the flimsy metal and plastic – still wet – and then at the Goblin King and herself in the window – her image in the window, with a blood-red crystal ball clutched in her hands.

She could not speak. She only saw her reflection, shaking her head back and forth.

Jareth smiled.

_I'm afraid so_.

Sarah felt the sting of tears in her eyes. "You bastard," she ground out. "You _cheat_. _**Fuck**_ you!"

The Goblin King stopped smiling.

Slowly, his wavering, ghostly image reached forward with one hand, and still more slowly, he extended his gloved fingers and touched the crystal.

It flared to life – the red was burned away by the glow of magic. The orb shone with a pure light into the gloom, turning her reflection in the window as silver as Jareth's own.

He slowly leaned his head against hers, and Sarah gasped as she felt his whisper, hot and intimate, at her ear.

"You'll need to find me first."

The brush and drag of his cloak against her back as he turned, the slide of his left hand away from the crystal and up her arm – she felt both as she would needles or knives in her skin – and he began to walk away.

Sarah whipped around and stared down the aisle. Nothing. Nothing, except a clot of darkness expanding, growing ever larger – spreading like an inkblot on grey paper.

She looked at the windows on the side of the car, and felt her stomach jolt as she saw Jareth gliding down the aisle, his arms outstretched and his cloak brushing over the girl's curly hair, the grandmother's face –

Sarah raised the crystal high – and its silver light showed the old woman and her granddaughter gone, the chairs vanished, the sides of the train car turned to solid rock, and the Goblin King gazing back at her, expressionless, as he walked straight through the wall where the door had been.

* * *

She stared ahead, into the darkness, silently, and focused on her breathing. _In and out_. _In and out_.

Raising the crystal, Sarah felt her heart sink when she recognized those rough-hewn walls – the walls of an oubliette.

"And not just any oubliette," she muttered. "_The _oubliette. The one I fell into before …"

She lifted her chin in defiance. "And I got out of that oubliette before. It doesn't scare me. I've defeated him before – _he _doesn't scare me. So watch out, Goblin King." Sarah held the crystal high. "Ready or not, here I come."

She walked forward, through what had been the train car, ducking her head to avoid stalactites. She reached the far wall. _Piece of cake_.

"OK. All right." Feeling for the hidden catch, she concentrated. "What did Hoggle do? …"

Whatever he had done, Sarah reflected after minutes had passed, it was damned hard to duplicate. She fumbled at the wall, dropped the crystal, and cursed as it rolled into a corner with a strange, clanking sound.

_didn't the other crystal ring?_

Then she stopped, and stared.

Where the silvery light crept across the floor, she saw the dust and stone of the oubliette. But in front of her – she squinted – she could just barely see the ordinary metal and glass of the train door.

"Oh." Sarah blinked, and then shrugged. "Pretty lame, Jareth." She grabbed the crystal, held it behind her back, and opened the door.

"Well …" She kept her voice matter-of-fact. "I suppose this reveals your magic, Goblin King – and shows me what you want me to see? Let's take a look."

She held up the orb, and saw a glass wall, two glass doors – and past them, a familiar sight ... Sarah eased into the lobby – _the lobby? _– and laughed. "Ooh –" she cried. "I'm quaking in my boots – it's the bank where I took my allowance, growing _up_, oh, the _bank_! The horror! The horror!" Miming a fainting fit, she tottered to the next door, and tugged on the handle.

It opened onto a metal hall that swung on a pivot, connecting the cars. Sarah looked left and right. _Down those stairs …_ She bit her lip. Down those stairs on either side was an exit, and she could just throw open the door, and chuck the crystal into the mountain tunnel.

"For the rats," Sarah hissed. "The lying, cheating _rats –_"

_Cheating …_

Sarah felt the crystal behind her back, thinking hard.

_Come and find me_, he had said.

_Use my gift to you …_

She brought the orb in front of her, before her eyes, and stared into it. "Without this … without this, I'll just see the train – and I'll be a sitting duck. I won't be able to see him except in a window - right." Sarah clenched her jaw, and shoved the crystal behind her back again. "Nice try, Goblin King."

She opened the next door with a jerk, and stepped through into the train car, brandishing the crystal without hesitation –

– and saw, with an unpleasant twist of her stomach, a chamber with a high ceiling lost in the gloom, lit by flickering candles – and dominated by an immense bed in the middle.

"And not just an ordinary bed, _oh_ no," she murmured, walking up to it. "No, you have to pick a reject from a brothel, don't you?" Sarah curled her lip at the purple velvet and contrasting red silk, and flicked a contemptuous hand through the tassels hanging from the posts. "King size … compensation much?"

She lowered the crystal, put it behind her back, and walked to the metal door that appeared amidst stone and tapestries. Opened it, and closed it without looking back, focusing on holding the crystal with clammy fingers.

Then she stopped.

The silvery light glinted off racks of sharp surgical instruments, off the gleaming outlines of a metal faucet and sink, off a large, padded chair in the middle of the room …

"Brrr." Sarah only half-faked her shiver. "Well, that's a bit freakier. The dentist. You've got me – I'm far, _far_ too afraid to continue."

She marched on, but her hand did shake slightly, on the door handle, and she had to try twice to open it, cursing – only to see another pivot hallway.

"Every two cars, I guess …"

Then she thought of something, and raised the crystal to see what he had put over the exits –

She almost screamed.

The massive, twisted face of a False Alarm stared at her.

_Beware _–

She wheeled and turned to the other – it had equally distorted features, twisted in fear, with bulging eyes.

_For the path you take _–

"'Will lead to certain destruction,' yeah, congratulations." Sarah mocked, keeping the quaver out of her voice with an effort. "You finally got to say your line."

Gripping the crystal tightly behind her back, she yanked the next door open, and cast the silvery light over the room.

She paused.

"What …"

The strange light showed her the kitchen of her apartment.

The kitchen, and the hall … Sarah walked over linoleum, and then over wood, feeling her skin prickle. She fought off the shivers. _Why should this one be as creepy as the dentist's office?_

Perhaps it was because it was so familiar, but so unreal, etched in silver. Perhaps because it was dank, and enclosed – as it had been the day she had moved in … dark and dirty …

Sarah stopped at the next door.

Perhaps …

Perhaps because her instincts told her that this next door was the last. That there would be no more illusions...

That _he _was on the other side.

Swallowing hard, she closed her eyes. _I've defeated him twice now … I've done it before, and I can do it again_. "No power over me," she murmured, resting her brow against the cool metal of the door. "None."

Opening her eyes, she gripped the door handle, held up the orb, and pulled forward all at the same time.

Sarah let the door swing shut behind her –

And then she gasped, and blinked hard, as the lights blazed back to full brightness. The train lurched forward, Sarah stumbled and dropped the crystal, and it rolled down the aisle, its own light only a glimmer.

It had almost reached the opposite door when someone stretched out one foot, and stopped it.

* * *

"Ah, Sarah … How pleasant to see you – in the flesh." That familiar voice drawled out from near the front of the car. "And in quite good time as well."

_There_. The Goblin King was folding a newspaper in half, casual in the same suit coat and jeans that she remembered from the park, and smiling –

Sarah half-walked, half ran down the aisle, taking in the still-slumped passengers only in passing, until she reached his seat. She glared down; he peeked up at her through a fall of golden hair, and his smile widened.

"How have you enjoyed the sights, my dear?"

"The _what_?" she sputtered – "Jareth, you can't send hallucinations at me because you have no power over me, you _cheat_, and –"

"I am not a cheat," he said softly, his grin vanishing.

"Do I need to spell it out? No power over me –" she held back from jabbing a finger into his chest. "That extends to modes of transportation, the weather, _electricity_, for god's sake, and whatever twisted shit you have in your head!" Sarah halted, breathing hard.

Jareth shook his hair out of his eyes and gave her a long look. "Temper, temper, Sarah. You give me far too much credit. I have no power over you … but I have the ordinary power to buy a train ticket. I have the mortal wherewithal to sabotage a fuse or two and really …" He stretched and yawned, like a cat. "As to the elements, perhaps I begged a favor of the North Wind and the East, of the lightning and the rain …"

Then he held up the newspaper. "Or, since those are tempestuous demigods, perhaps I read the weather forecasts like an ordinary person." His eyes glinted. "Hmm?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "And all the stuff I just saw?"

"Ah." Jareth uncoiled from his seat and stood; Sarah instinctively stepped back. He looked down at the crystal beneath one scuffed shoe, tapped it, and rolled it to the other.

"This, my dear, is my gift to you. It's a crystal, nothing more – but if you hold it aloft, and set it alight …"

"It will show me my dreams?"

The Goblin King's lips twisted into a cold smile. "Rather the opposite."

Sarah's throat was suddenly dry. "Not my dreams … My nightmares."

Jareth inclined his head. "In my long existence, I have observed that this is a gift guaranteed to build character – and I thought you could benefit by it."

"And you think I'll come running to you like some goddamn chicken or a two-year-old – _fuck _you, you arrogant –"

"Speaking of which, we have a far more interesting topic to discuss, Sarah mine." The smile now had teeth. "And that is – your surrender." Sarah stared at him, horrified, as he continued, "There's no shame in it, precious, and it is most certainly inevitable, so you could save yourself a good deal of unpleasantness by kissing me." He gestured around them – "Here" – and brought one finger to his mouth – "and here."

Sarah bared her own teeth. "Not on your life."

"Why, no, not on mine, but rather –"

Her cell phone rang shrilly, cutting him off.

The Goblin King tapped his lower lip. "I'm not expecting any calls, sweet."

He watched as Sarah unfolded the phone with hands that shook. She saw him watching, and turned away.

"Hello –" She cleared her throat. "Hello?"

"Sarah – what happened? Where are you? Your phone cut out, and I couldn't get you back –"

"Mom," she breathed. "I'm sorry, Mom – the train went through a tunnel but we're out now." She glanced outside. Darkness still obscured all the trees, save those made golden in the light of lamps flashing by. "I think we're getting closer to civilization, and we're out of the tunnel, but Mom – what's going on? What's wrong?" Her memory whispered – _Sarah honey it's your grandmother_ – "It's Gran, isn't it?" Her throat closed up. "What's wrong with Gran?"

"She's in the hospital. I'm here with her, but honey – she's had a heart attack."

Sarah heard a high-pitched buzzing in her ears. The train car swayed; she put out a hand to steady herself – her fingers closed on air and she lost her footing.

Then Jareth caught her elbow, and braced her with his other hand at the small of her back. For a long moment, Sarah could hear nothing –

"– and the resident cardiologist will be here in an hour, because the doctor on call hardly knows what to make of it – Sarah? Sarah, are you there?"

Her other ear was close enough to Jareth to hear him swallow as she turned her head away, brushing his throat with her hair.

"Yes," she said faintly. "I'm here."

"Honey, I need you to stay at Gran's house and to take any calls from your aunts and uncles. They don't have my cell, and –" her mother's voice caught – "they're not in my contacts list, so be sure to tell them exactly what happened. Write down these numbers –"

"Just a second." Sarah reached for her pocket, wresting her arm from the Goblin King's hand. She pulled a pen from her coat, and searched for a scrap of paper.

Jareth gestured, took a piece of parchment from out of thin air, and extended it to her. She gave him a cold look, and scratched the pen across her wrist to get the ink flowing.

"OK, go ahead."

Carefully, she wrote down the telephone numbers her mother gave her, tracing them over the back of her hand – first hurriedly, to keep up with Linda's voice, then again to make them darker, then again because she could, because it kept her from bursting into tears –

"Be brave, honey – Sarah …" Her mother's voice caught. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"OK." Sarah heard her own voice, small. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Her mother hung up.

Sarah tried to fold the phone shut. She fumbled it, and fumbled _for _it, as it slipped from her hands –

Jareth caught it easily, and held it out to her.

With a feeling of deep unreality, Sarah took the phone back. Her fingers brushed his – _he's not wearing gloves_ – and then she felt aware, aware with every nerve, of the way he had crowded close to her – _too close_ – of the hand still resting at the small of her back, and of his breath warm on her hair –

She elbowed him away, and turned her back on him.

"Sarah –" Jareth began.

"Are you happy?" she gulped. "Two truths and a lie – you, you _knew_, Jareth, and you let me sit there chattering like an idiot –" Her voice broke. "You knew, didn't you?"

A pause. Then: "Yes."

"_God_!" She felt the tears begin to fall. "Why didn't you tell me?! _Why_ didn't you tell me? – unless –" she gasped – "unless you did this. _You _did this!"

"Slander, Sarah …" the Goblin King hissed. "I have no power over you – that extends to relatives. _Do _try and maintain some semblance of reality –"

"Reality?! I'm talking to a _fairy tale_, and my grandmother's dying, and you're talking to me about reality?!"

She whirled back to face him, and felt a chill from the expression on his face.

"Such insolence exceeds my patience, even with you."

"It's not about _you_, Jareth, it's my Gran –"

"Your grandmother?" Jareth tilted his head haughtily. "I will save your grandmother, Sarah. I will restore her to the bloom of eighty-year-old health …"

"Wh- what? … You will?"

His eyes were hooded. "If."

Sarah felt cold. "If – what?"

"Our third contest, Sarah …" The Goblin King's eyes gleamed. "Engage with me in our final conflict, at the stroke of thirteen, and if you prove victorious, I will save your grandmother."

Silence fell.

Sarah only heard the rumble and clack of the train as it sped along – as she thought, desperately. She darted a glance up at him. His arms were crossed over his chest. His stare was diamond-bright – diamond-hard.

Sarah closed her eyes. "What's the catch?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me, Goblin King. What's the catch?"

His voice was sleek. "Actually, precious thing, there are three."

"Three. Great." She held her coat tightly to herself; the train car was cold. "And they are?"

"First, that you must prove yourself worthy of this contest –"

Sarah snorted; he paused, and spoke on. "The second is that you must dine with me. And the third …"

She heard the quiet tap of his shoes as he stepped closer. Too close. She felt his breath on her hair.

"The third catch, Sarah, is that you will _lose_. For, all I need to triumph is that you kiss me. And you will …"

Then Sarah felt his breath against her mouth; she jerked back and her eyes flew open. His own were a few inches away and cold. Cruel.

"How do you know that?" she whispered.

"I know," he whispered back, "because I have foreseen it. I have flown through the Gate of Horn, and flown through your dreams, and I have seen you kissing me with all of your heart … The Labyrinth has shown me this." His eyes glittered. "Labyrinth has always intended you for me – and I _love_ you, Sarah. My Sarah …"

Jareth's gaze flicked down to her mouth, then back up. "My Sarah … Kiss me."

He touched her jaw with the fingertips of one hand; she felt the brush of skin on skin all the way down to her feet.

"Kiss me here, and you need not prove yourself. Kiss me now, and I will fly to bring your grandmother back from death's door. Kiss me –" his breath was hot – "kiss me, precious thing, and you will be mine forever …"

It was the hardest thing she had ever done – to take a step back, and another – to break free from his eyes. But Sarah did so.

"Prove myself? Why?" She kept her voice calm, though her heart hammered. "Why do I need to prove myself? And how would I do so, great and mighty King?"

She allowed a sneer into her final words, and knew it had been the wrong thing to do even before she saw Jareth's gaze turn to ice.

"You little fool. I offered myself to you on bended knee, at our first contest's end. I offered my powers to you. I offered my heart to you. I offered to _be your slave_ … and you refused me. You passed through dangers untold," his voice mocked her, "and hardships unnumbered – you declared your power equal to mine at the great old age of _**fourteen **_– you _fool_! Yet I met your spirit with mine – I answered your call and did everything you demanded of me and _more_ – and you refused me!"

"Defeated you," Sarah corrected, calmly.

She felt removed from the scene – _Gran is dying_ – curiously outside of time, or she would not have dared say it. As it was, she felt nothing as saw his face twist.

"And for our second contest, Sarah, it was I who played the malleable fool. I set no task of immortal import, I put no trials to you – instead I lowered myself to your pathetic mortal plane and did nothing more than offer you gifts and ask you to _dinner_ – no more than any pathetic human boy would do – and you refused me."

"Defeated you."

The Goblin King paused. "So it would seem."

Silence.

Sarah took a deep breath. "So, what now?"

"What now …" Jareth spoke softly. "'What now?' she asks. 'What now' is that you prove yourself worthy of a third challenge. I am the King of Dreams, Sarah Williams. I am Lord of the Labyrinth. And I say to you that you find your way out again – retrace your steps – go and fetch your belongings, with _this _to guide you."

He flipped the crystal orb to his hand with one smooth roll of his foot, and held it out to her.

"Do you see this, Sarah? It's a crystal, nothing more. But if you turn it this way, and look into it, it will show you your dreams. And …"

Jareth raised the crystal up on high. His teeth were bared.

"If you hold it aloft, and set it alight–" he struck the orb with his other hand, and Sarah cried out, shielding her eyes against its blinding glare – burning silver-white and far, far brighter than before.

"– it will show you your _nightmares_, Sarah mine. So …"

Sarah heard a clanging noise, and whirled to see the crystal hit one bench and ricochet _through_ the metal door.

The horrible clanging continued for a long time. And then it stopped.

Fear reached up and choked her, as she saw how the entire car had turned silvery, insubstantial, in the magical light – how the passengers had vanished into thin air – _how many cars away is it? – how far – oh, god …_

She turned back, and bit back a cry at the Goblin King looking like a wraith, a ghost, in the light of nightmares. His ordinary clothes had changed into the decaying cloak and armor – his hair was a blazing crown, and he smiled at her with teeth sharp and glittering, merciless.

"So, precious thing –" and his whisper sliced through her ears – "Go and retrieve your belongings, and my lovely gift to you, and meet me at your grandmother's house before the stroke of thirteen. Prove yourself stronger than your nightmares, worthy of the King of Dreams. Or –"

"Or what?" Her voice shook.

"Or you could admit defeat and kiss me – now. Yield to me, and we will go to your grandmother together." A smile. "And to places as far beyond your dreams as your city is beyond a single stone."

He held out a gloved hand.

She lifted her chin. "So – just the suitcase and my purse?"

Jareth curled his hand into a fist, and brought it back to his side, slowly. "And that lovely crystal, precious thing …"

Sarah began to step away.

He half-closed his eyes, drew his cloak closer. "My only love ... What time is it?"

She fumbled for her cell phone, checked the digital display. "Seven-thirty."

"Half past seven, precious thing – only an hour, precious thing …" The Goblin King smiled at her, his cloak fluttering as he swayed. His eyes gleamed. "Sixty paltry minutes until your mortal track comes to its end, precious thing …"

His sing-song voice dropped to a grating whisper. "Fetch me that crystal, precious thing."

Sarah felt for the door handle behind her, her fingers numb.

"Fetch it for me, precious thing …"

She felt the door open.

"Fetch – fetch –"

The Goblin King spat his last word at her.

"_Fetch._"

Sarah turned and ran, and heard the door slam behind her.

* * *

TBC ... Read and review!

And a PSA: chapter 3 will be rated, most emphatically, **M**; & thus won't pop up in the automatic K - T screen, etc. etc.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: Don't own

**Rated**: **M **for bad language, disturbing imagery, violence, and underage squick. If _you _are underage, turn back ... turn back before it's too late ...

Chapters 2 and 3 were written as a whole, once upon a time.

Still there?

Then read on ...

* * *

**Thrice Upon a Time**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

By the time she saw the figure on its knees in the center of – _my kitchen_ – it was too late to stop. Sarah tripped, yelled, and falls hard on the linoleum.

"Ow – _ow –_" She clambers to her knees. Sorry – I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going –"

There is no one else there.

Sarah turns slowly in place, eyes wide. "Hello?"

No answer.

Bewildered, she looks down. There is nothing but a bucket, full of suds, and a sponge clutched in her own hand. Her skin feels tight, as if she has been using bleach.

And she knows, somehow, that she has to clean the floor.

Sarah dips the sponge in the bucket and sets to work. She scrubs and scrubs, until the suds turn a foaming brown-gray and one swathe of linoleum is considerably lighter.

Panting, she gets to her feet and looks in dismay at the wide expanse of floor still black with dirt. But – "I can do this." She hoists the bucket and lugs it to the sink. "Piece of cake."

She empties the bucket,and turns the water on to run as hot as it can go. After a generous dollop of cleanser, though, and after rinsing out the sponge twice, she is still waiting for the water to turn warm.

"Come on," Sarah mutters. "Hurry up." She flicks her fingers through the water – _cold_ – and glares at the faucet. "Hurry up, hurry up –"

A crash outside her apartment door makes her jump.

"Williams!" a hoarse voice shouts. "Open up!"

"Who is it?"

A curse. "Who is it – who _is _it – it's your landlord, Williams, and I wanted you gone this morning!"

Sarah looks frantically for a clock. There is one with a dingy face, half hidden behind a pile of old newspapers on the kitchen table. She grabs it – _seven thirty-four_ – and panics. "But I'm cleaning!"

"Bullshit!" the voice snarls. "I want you to pack up and leave – you understand?"

"Wait – wait –" she cries. "I just need one more minute!"

The water is still cold – she runs it into the bucket anyway and watches the cleanser froth up. She looks down the hall, at the door, sees the light at the peephole wink out – _someone's looking in_ – and hears a jangle of keys.

Sarah flings the sponge on the floor and scrubs as hard as she can, as the door slams open and a tall, obese man stomps inside.

He glares at her and jerks a meaty thumb. "Out."

"Mr. Gallagher," – _that's his name_ – "Mr. Gallagher, I'll have it clean for you as soon as I can, I promise –"

A bark of laughter. "That's what you said three months ago, Williams, and I've got your neighbors complaining, and the health department breathing down my neck –"

"The health department?" Her voice cracks. "Why?"

"Pawloski next door – she called 'em."

Sarah sputters. "That's only because I complained about her dog barking all the damn time! That's not fair!"

"News flash, Williams – she's right! _Look _at this!" He flings open a cupboard and greasy take-out cartons spill onto the counter. Sarah winces, bends to pick up a packet of soy sauce.

It squirms in her hand – she shrieks and drops it – it is a cockroach and it scuttles away as soon as it hits the floor.

"Nice." Her landlord looks at her, his heavy features twisted in contempt. "Pack your bags and get out, or I'm calling the cops."

"Go ahead!" she snarls. "And I want my deposit back! This place was _dirtier_ when I moved in – it took me a week to clean it, and –"

Sarah feels a wave of vertigo. She _has _cleaned it – it had been pristine – and there should be a rug in front of the refrigerator, covering a tear in the linoleum – there should be two plants on the windowsill – there should be a red cloth on the table –

– but there is no rug, there are no plants, and everything is filthy.

"Yeah?" The man sneers. "You got pictures?"

She blinks hard. "No."

A derisive laugh. "No pictures, no proof – and no rent! You haven't paid your goddamn rent for three months and you're bitching about your deposit?" He pulls an awful face, and shrills in falsetto. "'We're not gonna pay – last year's rent! This year's rent! Next year's rent!' You Broadway wannabes are all the same – too dumb to write a check, too dumb to buy a stamp –" Spit flies from his mouth. "You're so dumb you probably bring your johns here and wonder why they want their money back!"

"I work at a _museum_!" Sarah cries. "And I have paystubs to prove it!"

She grabs a rusty cookie tin from on top of the freezer, wrenches it open and shakes it at him.

Her landlord howls and falls back as a mass of silverfish falls out of the tin, comes apart and cascades to the floor, and then the bugs run off in all directions –

Sarah drops the cookie tin; it clanks and rolls away into a corner. More insects stream out of it – dozens, hundreds –

"No," she whimpers. "No – make them stop –"

"That's _it_!" Furious, the man shoves himself up from the floor. "Get out!"

"But I –"

"Out!" he bellows. "Out!" His mouth gapes, wider and wider – black and huge –

– a cockroach falls out of it –

Sarah claps her hands over her own mouth, as he drops to his knees, choking and gurgling – and then he spews cockroaches all over the floor.

She screams, as waves of roaches and silverfish pour out of his mouth, but the man cannot hear her – even as she leaped out of the other Sarah, still screaming, and pelted towards the door – the real door – _the train door_ –

She whirled around, her fingers clawing for the handle and saw herself in the middle of the kitchen, shrieking, as her landlord's huge stomach swelled and swelled, until a geyser of insects and filth exploded from it –

Sarah forced the door open, ran through and slammed it shut before she could see any more.

* * *

Gagging, she doubled over and fell to her knees. "Oh god, oh my _god_ –"

It took a long moment for Sarah to wrench her head back up, and stare at the door in front of her – _wait_ –

"Oh …" She heard her own high-pitched laughter, near hysterical. "The pivot – this is the pivot, and there's the door to –"

_What next?_ Still fighting dry heaves, she racked her brain and then remembered: "The dentist – the dentist, oh no …"

Biting down hard on one knuckle, Sarah fought for control. "Just a dream, just a bad dream …" With her free hand, trembling violently, she pulled her cell phone from her coat pocket. "Seven forty-one – oh, I've got to go in there –"

She stood up, and took a deep breath. "Just a nightmare –

_Prove yourself stronger than your nightmares_ –

"– and I've survived worse. OK. OK."

Slowly, carefully, she pushed open the next door.

Goosebumps prickled up and down her arms and her back as she saw the dentist's chair, silver-grey in the magical light, with someone lying down in it.

Sarah took another deep breath, swallowing a gush of bile. "It's just the dentist."

She walked forward and peered at the prone body. Its face was difficult to see in the weird light – she stretched out a hand –

– and Sarah finds herself staring up at the bright ceiling, shivering in a flimsy paper gown, conscious of the sharp smell of rubbing alcohol and a sting on the back of her left hand.

"Right, Ms. Williams, that's the I.V." A deep voice speaks and a white-haired man comes into her field of vision, smiling. "You'll be out when I start, and it might be a few minutes, but Dr. Gregor here will be here the entire time."

A much younger man leans in, grinning shyly. "Hey."

"Hey –" Sarah tries to say, but her mouth feels stuffed full of cotton wool – and then her vision blurs, the faces fade, and blackness threads in front of her eyes. – _What's going on?_ is what she wants to say, but it's too late. Her tongue is frozen, and everything is black.

"Run an instrument check."

She hears the older doctor's voice, clear as a bell, and curt. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Yes, sir."

Footsteps sound, first loud and then softer; a door opens and shuts.

Then all she can hear is the _clink_ of metal and off-key whistling, as the younger man – _Dr. Gregor _– does something – _what – what is he doing?_ –

Long moments of dark nothing pass. Nothing but her own breath and the whistling.

_This had better not be my wisdom teeth_, Sarah thinks. _All four impacted_ – _that was the worst weekend ever – _

The door squeaks open and she wonders if it's the older doctor, but, "Sam-my!" she hears, and "Hey, what's up?" Gregor – _Sammy? _– replies.

"Nothing much." Gum snaps. "Pretty boring day. When do you get off?"

"Forty-five minutes."

"You up for pool at Rigley's?"

"Sure."

"Great." She hears a yawn, and then, "So, who's the chick?"

"Uh –" She hears riffling pages. "Caucasian, forty years old – oh, here – Sarah _Lynne _Williams. I didn't know her middle name was Lynne."

"Did she do anything cool?"

Dr. Gregor –_ Sammy_ – sounds young as he replies, "I think she was in that one movie – you know, that long one all in a coffee shop –"

"Huh."

"– and all they're doing is smoking cigarettes and talking about philosophy –"

"Yeah, whatever." The gum snaps again, closer. "Not bad for forty."

She can almost hear the shrug in Sammy's voice. "I guess not – _hey!_"

_what is it? _– she wants to say, but she can't move her tongue, can't even gasp as gum snaps above her head and a finger pokes at her left breast.

"Are these for real?"

"Shit, man! You'll get us in so much trouble –"

"Aw come on, I'm just asking_ …_" Another poke and then a squeeze. "You're not going to _tell _on me, are you?"

"Pete, _quit _it!" The young doctor's voice spirals upward.

"Then tell me – are they real?"

Another rustle of pages. Then Sammy's voice wobbles: "Yeah. Or, at least, she didn't get them done here."

Gum Snapper – _Pete_ – whistles. "Da-yum. Not bad at all for forty."

Sarah has been trying to shout, to scream – she wants to kick the bastard where it would kill him, but she can't even twitch –

"I don't know why she wants this." The young voice is plaintive. "I liked that movie – the coffee shop one – and I liked that weird sci-fi one. She was really pretty in both of them. I just don't get –"

"Man, she's _forty_. You gotta do what you gotta do when you hit that rut."

"I guess … wait – _shit_! Pete!"

"Yeah?"

"Put that away!"

_put what away?_ – Sarah wants to move, to get up, but she can't –

"You'll get us both fired!"

A laugh. "I'm a lab tech, dude – I can get a job anywhere. And if I get something for these, we'll go even, O.K.?"

Sarah hears a rustle of paper – feels cold air on her skin –

– hears the _click_ of a camera.

"Yeah." Pete's voice is hoarse. "_Damn_ good for forty." Another _click_.

"Dammit, put that away," Sammy quavers.

"C'mon man – look at this shot –" _click – click – click –_ "See what the light does, there?"

A pause.

Then Sarah hears Sammy croak. "Yeah."

"Yeah, _baby_," Pete laughs. "I wanted to do cinema-tah-graphy once, you know – wait – move her arm a bit." Sammy does; the other man pops his gum again. "Nice. She ever do a skin flick?"

Sammy's voice cracks. "How the hell should I know? –" and then Sarah hears him gasp. "Shit, _shit_, he's coming – cover her, quick!"

Paper crackles, and she hears footsteps.

"Half and half," Pete mumbles, and then: "Hey, Dr. Morgan."

"Good morning, Peter," an older voice returns.

_it's the other doctor – stop them – __**stop **__him! – get the camera, the camera –_

Sarah's eyes and mouth are closed and her body is still – but somehow she hears herself shouting, feels herself thrashing –

"All set?" the older doctor – _Morgan_ – says. A door closes. "Good. Mark seven fifty-two, and starting. What's this one again?"

"Rhinoplasty."

"Of course."

A brief _swish _of cloth, and then:

"Scalpel."

Sarah hears a metallic _clink_ –

– and then screams as a blade cuts down the side of her nose – screams with no sound, for her mouth is closed and she can't tell them that she's awake, _awake _–

"Now, Dr. Gregor, the first step is to peel up the skin to make room for the next incisions –"

The voices ring in and out of Sarah's ears, echoing with the thunder of her pulse as pain radiates out from her nose into her skull, into her brain – _stop, stop – I'm awake! I can feel everything _–

"And they must be securely fastened, before we proceed to the cartilage. Now – normally, one uses which instrument to break the nasal dorsum?"

"The osteotome, sir."

"Correct. But as the record shows, more drastic measures have been requested, so –"

A pause.

"Bone saw."

Sarah hears a high-pitched, electric squeal and shrieks, louder than she has, louder than she ever has before, and, rolling, fell out of the other Sarah and ran as fast as she could from the chair.

She did not look back, but smelled charred, burning bone, and saw blood reflected in the next door, her own blood, red and glistening -

- as she wrenched that same door open and shut it as fast as she could.

* * *

She was gasping for breath with her face pressed against something cool, and bumpy.

_Just a bad dream, just a nightmare_. _You're OK – you're OK ... Just breathe. Breathe …_

Sarah stared at the door that she had slammed. Carefully rising to her knees and then to her feet, she looked long at the heavy, polished wood – how it was carved in a pattern of leaves, but leaves with metal spikes jutting out in place of flowers. The handle was hinged and made of silver studded with jewels.

She felt her skin prickle. _This is the one with the bed in it …_

Closing her eyes, Sarah leaned forward and rested her forehead against the wood.

– _Just don't panic. Breathe. Don't panic. You'll get through – whatever this is._

She still took another moment to open her eyes, turn, and squint in the silvery light.

There were two figures, blurred in her sight, sitting on the bed.

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Sarah walked forward, doing her best to keep her distance …

But despite herself, her feet slowed as she glanced back over her shoulder and saw … what looked like ropes of diamonds, emeralds, and pearls, scattered on a table next to the bed. That table was insubstantial in the silvery light, much as everything else had been at first – _before some dream reality kicks in, or something, I don't know_ – but the jewels … Even with the magic, the jewels shone and sparkled …

Sarah eased around the side of the massive bed and stared at the glittering heap.

"Oh …"

She wouldn't touch, wouldn't even get too close, but – _I just want to look_ –

Then a ghostly limb stretched in front of her eyes; she gasped and recoiled, throwing out a hand to catch her balance –

And she feels nimble fingers doing something to her hair – weaving it in and out, twisting it around something that is a substantial weight on her neck.

"What is it?" she whispers.

There is silence for a moment, though the fingers do not stop their work. Then she _feels_ a breath of laughter on her back. Goosebumps rush over her flesh, and the laughter turns audible.

"Patience, pet …"

Sarah's mouth goes dry. She knows that voice –

– but before she can move away, she feels something even heavier settling on her forehead, around her temples, on the back of her skull. She moves her head cautiously and hears something _clink_.

"Would you like to see?" the same voice drawls.

"Yes, please," she whispers. – _What is it? –_

A rich chuckle. "That's my polite girl. Now, look."

Candles flare around the room, and dappled light seems to slide over the velvets and silks on the bed. Branches of them flanking the mirror crackle to life as well. Sarah sees her reflection.

_Oh_ –

She stares.

_Oh, I'm so __**young**__ …_

The girl in the mirror lifts a small, pale hand to a jeweled diadem circling her head. Brown strands of hair are caught in it; she tries to tug them free and notices –

_There should be a scar at my hairline by the left – I fell from my bike_, Sarah thinks, _my new bike, the day after I turned fifteen, and three months to the day after I ran the Labyrinth_ …

The diadem has a finely wrought symbol at its center, lying at the mystical third eye. The metal looks like horns and an infinity sign somehow twisted together.

_The Labyrinth … oh my god, I never left the Labyrinth – and that must mean –_

"There, you see?" That _voice_ – it accompanies a face that swims into focus behind her left shoulder.

The Goblin King gives her a lopsided grin.

"Pretty as a picture."

_Wait ... is that really him?_

The older Sarah stares out of her younger self's eyes. It _is _the Goblin King, but as she hardly remembers him. His eyes are heavily rimmed with kohl and his mouth is a crimson slash, and –

_I never did see him with his shirt off, did I?_

Yes, she had, Sarah realizes. The second contest – he had lain in her bed to warm it and smiled up at her – his white-gold skin almost glowing … but here ... he is different.

Her Jareth – _my Jareth? – _had been beautiful, yes, but almost painfully thin – sternum, shoulder bones, and ribs all plain as day. But in this dream (_nightmare_) the Goblin King has a sleek, visible strength. Corded muscles stand out and flex as he shifts closer to her, stretches his arms around her, plants one hand next to each of her thighs.

Perhaps Sarah shivers, or squeaks, because the grin turns from lopsided into a full display of sharp, crooked teeth. He leans even closer, rests his chin on her shoulder. He scrapes those teeth over the side of her neck and _bites_ –

Sarah hears herself whimper and then sucks in a breath; somehow, she knows that she should not –

The Goblin King's eyes, narrowed, meet hers in the mirror. "What have I told you time and again, Sarah mine?"

She sees her thin throat ripple as she swallows. "Mustn't do that."

"Exactly. And what do you say now?"

Her eyes are huge, grey-green in her white face. "I'm sorry."

A laugh. "I forgive you. And here now ..." He trails a finger over her skin. "I am afraid that will bruise – so do let me cover it for you, my darling girl."

She stares at the red mark on her neck – a mark that disappears beneath a rope of pearl circling once, twice, three times – but the coils slide down, so he unlocks a net of silver and sapphires, drapes it around her throat higher up, and flicks the lock shut. "There. What do you think?"

_What do I think?_

Sarah feels goosebumps spread down her arms; she trembles.

"Chilly, my dear?" The Goblin King unfolds his legs and tugs her backwards into the warm line of his body. Sarah only just registers what he is wearing – _that black leather – I remember that _– and then he places his hands over hers and murmurs into her ear. "Is this better?"

She is about to nod, but then she sees herself in the mirror –

_Oh my __**god**__ –_

Golden strands flickering with diamonds twine around her arms. Pearls on leather cords drape over her hips. An ornate amber pendant lies between her breasts.

She is wearing jewelry, and nothing else.

Sarah feels the laugh building in the Goblin King's chest before she hears it.

"Aren't we the staring fawn today … Little pet –" he shakes her, lightly, and kisses her cheek. "Why the wide eyes?"

_Oh no, please, please let him not –_

"Are you staring at how beautiful you are, little one?" His voice roughens. "Do you see what I see?"

Her stomach churns as he bends his head and flicks his tongue through openings in the net of silver on her neck, as he traces the lines of skin between the pearls, and as he runs his hands up her arms and cups her breasts –

– _no, no __**no **__I'm __**fourteen **__you bastard –_

He digs his fingers into her flesh, and she forgets and yelps in pain.

He jerks his head backwards and hisses into her ear, his breath hot. "_What_ have I told you, girl? Have you forgotten?"

Sarah pulls her knees up and buries her face between them as she feels tears threaten. She hears a clock in the room, quietly chiming the hour – _eight_ – something is important, but the King has asked her a question and she must answer. Her voice is thick. "No ..."

"No, _what_?"

"I haven't forgotten …"

"Then why _squeal _so, pretty?" He slides one hand from her chest and gives one of her thighs a stinging slap. She cries out. "Why this whimpering?"

"I – I –"

The Goblin King's other hand twists in her hair and in the diadem, and tightens. "_Why_, Sarah?"

She gulps. "I don't – I don't –" Tears spill over, running down her face. "It hurts – why do you make it _hurt _so much?"

"Ah …"

His hand loosens and both his arms go around her.

"Ah, princess. My princess. Shhh …" He kisses her cheek. "Stop crying and I will explain. Shhh – hush now. Listen …"

Sarah hiccups as she sobs – _so young, god I'm so young – _as he moves her so that she faces him. He frames her face with his hands. "Sweet …" He kisses her other cheek, lingering on her tears. "My sweet princess. It only hurts because I have such passion for you … such an overwhelming desire for you …"

The sobs turn into sniffles. "I don't understand."

The Goblin King favors her with a gentle smile. "This is part of passion, pet. When a lover," he points to his chest, "desires his lady above all things," he flicks a finger against her cheekbone, "of _course _he's going to hurt her. The more he wants her, the more he hurts her. And I want you, sweet … so very, very much …"

In her thoughts, the older Sarah howls. The younger blinks, starts to scrub her eyes with the back of one hand, and winces at the diamond bite of the rings on her fingers. "I still don't –"

"My dear." His smile widens. "Just think of your mother and father. You remember what happened with them, don't you?"

A blush spreads across her face. She looks away.

"You remember how you heard them, that one night. How your mother was crying out so loudly that you were afraid. And then the next morning you asked her what had happened, and she said …"

Sarah drops her chin to avoid his arched eyebrow.

"She said," he murmurs, "that what you heard was … Mommy and Daddy's business. Weren't those her words?" His eyes glint. "But then you were so _curious_, weren't you, pet? What _was _mommy and daddy's business? What could it be? And then your mother moved to a separate room and all the noise stopped, and then she left you, didn't she?"

Miserably, Sarah nods.

"Oh, but _then ..." _The Goblin King leans in close and whispers hot against her ear. "Then your father married again and you were still so curious – curious if father and stepmother had the same business as mommy and daddy. You listened at the door, didn't you? You wanted so much to know, didn't you?"

She nods again, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Then that little brat of a boy was born, and you found your father's magazines, and you began to get so _angry_, my fine girl. So angry, and so confused, because you wanted something – you wanted something and you didn't know what it was. Until …"

The Goblin King turns her in his lap – she opens her eyes and sees her tearstained, flushed face in the mirror.

He holds her close. "Until you came to me – and those things that you didn't even understand … those things you wanted – you wanted them _desperately_." He bites at her ear. "Didn't you?"

"… Yes." Her breath hitches as his hands begin to move again.

"I gave you what you wanted, pet. I gave you what you wished for …" He smiles at her, a baring of crooked, gleaming teeth in the mirror. "Now you understand, don't you? Don't you see how much I desire you, since I do these things for you?"

He rakes sharp nails up her thighs; she flinches, but recovers to give him a shaky smile. "I think so."

His eyes narrow. "You only _think _so, Sarah?"

She feels her heart pounding in her chest. Sarah looks through her younger self's eyes, into the mirror, and sees veins pulsing blue beneath the paper-white skin at her temples. She sees the dark rings around her eyes – almost as black as the kohl round his, but from sleeplessness –

"Sarah … _Sa_-rah …" The Goblin King's mouth is twitching. "Have you forgotten your name again, my Sarah?"

She feels dizzy. "No."

But he is amused and does not stop. "You forget your name, you forget your poor parents, you forget how much I adore you and _cherish_ you … now why is that?"

Her lower lip is trembling. "Sometimes …"

She sees him brush a kiss across her temple. "Yes?"

"Sometimes my head just hurts."

"I see." He tilts his head back and runs his tongue across the jagged tips of his teeth. "Poor princess. My poor little princess … Let me help you. Here."

The Goblin King slowly lifts one hand, palm down. When he turns his palm up, with a flourish, his fingers are suddenly circled round a jeweled goblet. "Drink."

Sarah tries to hold back, but she sees her own hands – one thin one, then both – take the goblet. The worked metal is almost too heavy, and strangely hot to her touch. She parts her lips and then tastes something rich and spicy – _wine_ – and strange.

"What –" but she cannot finish, for the Goblin King has curled his fingers around the base and tilted the drink into her mouth.

The wine is powerfully alcoholic. _And with a lower body weight … _Sarah tries not to swallow, but he presses the goblet on her, against her mouth, tipping it until liquid runs over her chin and down her neck and she has to drink to keep from choking. She swallows, more and more, until her throat clenches and she coughs –

"There now." He takes the goblet away; she dimly hears the _clink_ of metal on the bedside table. "Doesn't that feel better?"

Sarah tries to speak, but the room sloshes from side to side around her, and she has to slump back against his chest. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror; the dark wine on her skin makes it looks as though her throat has been cut.

Then she can only lie still in his arms, as he licks the wine from her skin – as he looks down, eyes half-closed, and bends to trace a red rivulet to where it drips off one of her breasts. The Goblin King takes a nipple into his mouth and starts _doing _things to it with his tongue; she raises one hand – _so heavy _– and places it on his hair, to push him away –

– _please don't let him do this – don't let him _– she shudders – _let me wake up, please god let me wake up_ –

"Sarah," he rasps, his breath hot against her flesh, and cool where he had licked her - she shudders. "You see how I worship you, how I desire you – how I _want _you … But what I want to know is this: do you want me?" He kisses up to her neck; she can hardly breathe. "Or have you forgotten that, too?"

The older Sarah is crashing against the walls of her prison, trying to break out – _wake up wake up get out get __**out**__ – _but the younger one only watches her hand fall from his hair, down to her waist and then onto the bed.

"Sarah?"

"I want you." Her voice is dull.

"Very good," he purrs. "Ah, princess, you remember the important things … You remember that you want me – you remember what pleases me. And you _want_ to please me. You _want_ me so very desperately, don't you, my dear?"

She is quiet for a long moment, thin shoulders hunched. Then she nods.

"Well, then." The Goblin King shifts behind her. "Show me, Sarah." He runs a caressing hand over her hair. "Show me how much you want me."

She mumbles, her chin almost at her chest. "Do I have to?"

"Why, no …" he croons. "You _want_ to. You want to please me – you want to show me how much you love me, don't you? Don't you?"

From a place somehow removed, Sarah sees how her younger self has curled up in the King's lap, curled up into a ball.

"Yes …" The reply is indistinct, because she is sucking her thumb.

She hears the smile in his voice. "Right thought, my dear." He plucks her hand from her mouth. "Wrong place."

He laces his fingers through hers and moves their entwined hands lower, until she feels smooth leather. "Now – show me."

Sarah awkwardly turns in his lap. She looks up into his eyes and tries a wobbly smile. Then she takes an uneven breath, bends her head, and kisses his chest. His hands stroke her hair as she kisses lower, then lower, pausing to draw her tongue over the lines of muscle in his abdomen.

She hears him groan, and she moves her hand the way she knows he wants her to, because she wants him to make that sound again – she wants to stop and look at the way the wine on her lips has left pretty traces on his white skin, but she can't, because she's trying too hard to remember how to undo his belt and keep kissing at the same time –

The older Sarah is screaming.

Nobody can hear her. Nobody knows she is there. And only she knows about the horror and fear, and sickness, roiling up from her gut, even when she flew out of the younger Sarah and landed on the stone floor, sobbing.

She pushed herself to her feet with both hands, then shook where she stood, hyperventilating, feeling too numb to cover her ears. And so she heard a scrape of metal and looked over her shoulder to see – somehow the worst thing of all – the Goblin King picking up the goblet in a languid hand and bringing it to his mouth, taking a sip of wine with his eyes closed, with his other hand coiled in her younger self's hair – and her hair was longer than it had ever been ...

Then he tilted his head back – Sarah saw the stark line of his jaw gleam like ivory in the candlelight – and he let the goblet fall onto the bed. She heard him hiss through his teeth, but she couldn't take her eyes off the last of the wine – spreading, staining the silk, darker even than the purple velvet. Until she heard him whisper: "Like that. _Yes_."

She saw him trace the diadem on her younger self's brow and brush a thumb over the symbol of the Labyrinth. Then the rasp of his voice: "_Precious_ thing …"

"No …" Sarah mumbled, backing away, averting her eyes from the sight of her younger self – "No. I want to get out of here – I _need _to get out, please please let me out –"

She reached the door, only saying: "Out – out, please," in a voice hoarse from her protests of before –

The door swung outward so easily that she half fell – half fell and turned –

– and had one last glimpse – the Goblin King's eyes flashing down at her bowed head as he snarled, clawed through her hair, clawed and _yanked _–

The door closed.

* * *

Sarah slid to her knees and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, god – I can't – can't …"

She felt her own tears, trickling down her face. It was too much – she couldn't go on ... She couldn't believe he would _do _something like that, to her – to her when she was so _young_, a child ... Even knowing about her Gran – even the rest of this nightmare – that had been nothing compared to –

"_Monster_."

It took a long moment for Sarah to lift her head. The motion made her stomach churn. "That _bastard_ – he'll regret this. He'll live to regret this – I'll make him _pay –_"

The words seemed to echo, strangely …

She heard a distant _scraping_ sound.

Sarah pulled her coat tighter, then looked to one side. The scraping wasn't coming from anything she could see, except …

Then she remembered, and raised the crystal. She didn't scream – but did inhale in a rattle as the massive, twisted face of a False Alarm stared at her, mica eyes gleaming in the nightmare light.

Then it blinked, and she screamed after all.

_Beware _–

"Yeah, I _got _the message." Her mouth tasted like bile; she swallowed once, twice. "Pass one on for me, this time: he'll be sorry for this –" she spat – "he'll pay – I'll make that rat bastard of a Goblin King _pay_ –"

_We hear …_

She turned on her knees to see the other False Alarm. Its eyes glittered at her – and it had teeth made of mica, too. They looked sharp.

… _and witness …_

Its voice rumbled – and was that a rock, or a snake with stone scales, darting out of its mouth as it licked its chops?

"Oh _no_," Sarah choked and scrambled to her feet, the dry heaves returning with a vengeance.

_Don't go …_

"No – no, I have go – I have to keep going –" She heard a rattle – _were those stones? _– and then a louder grating, crunching sound as she fumbled for the handle.

_Don't go on …_

The door opened with a _click _that she felt rather than heard. Sarah darted into the next car and slammed the door behind her – She heard the screech of stone against metal – the door shuddered at her back, as though rocks had crashed against it.

It sounded as if the rocks were screaming. But she didn't know why.

* * *

Sarah hunched over where she stood, trying to breathe. "What did they – what _was _that?" They didn't just want to stop her, although she felt that, the _don't go on_, their hunger … they had listened …

And now she had the twisted, jagged grey images of the False Alarms between her thoughts and the memory of Jareth and her younger self – _no_, _not going to think about that _– her mind was careening round and round – she could hardly see when she opened her eyes.

But then her vision focused, and beige paneling and a dull brown carpet shimmered into being in front of her. Memory – the carpet, the panels – both took her back so many years, as did the musty smell of plastic, old bills and damp waits in line …

Sarah was standing in her childhood bank.

"Why …" she mumbled. "Why this? Why?"

Gazing around the drab waiting area, silver-edged and wavering in the magic's light, Sarah focused on the glass doors directly opposite. They led to a small anteroom, and the bank's main door.

"OK." She exhaled, teeth chattering. "How about I try just walking across, straight across, and not – touching – _anything_ …"

Sarah took a careful step forward, then another, and then quickened her pace – until she saw a silhouette open the bank door, walk through the anteroom, and lean against the glass door to enter the lobby –

She tried to turn around, to run. The figure came towards her, closer and closer, reached her, walked into her –

And then Sarah winds her way through the old velvet cords that guide the customers in line, and waits her turn near its head. There are orange and black streamers fluttering from the posts. A dish on a nearby table contains a clump of candy corn and a few Starbursts. Her legs ache from standing and her arms twinge from holding the baby, but she has walked all the way here, and she didn't want to take the stroller out into the early snow …

… _the baby?_

A strange half-squeak, half-chirp focuses her attention on the infant. Its eyelashes flutter, but it does not wake. It is dressed in a knit sweater that lies over a white sleeper; wrapped in a coat of plush red – rather, a coat once plush, now carefully mended, but still looking warm enough –

Staring, she joggles the baby once. It is plump, but somehow so light …

_How is this a nightmare?_

The baby yawns.

_How?…_

Sarah looks ahead, trying to think ... She had never wanted a child, never felt the need for one that so many of her circle of friends felt, in college – and then she had left those friends behind, moved to the city, deleted emails about baby showers and christenings …

She looks down at the infant in her arms. Dark lashes lie on rosy cheeks and a whorl of auburn hair moves softly with Sarah's own breath.

"Next!" a voice barks.

Carefully, with one thumb, she touches the soft spot on the baby's head.

"_Next_!"

"Hey, lady, that's you," a gruff voice says.

Sarah glances up into the rheumy eyes of an older man, stooped and with white hair, in line behind her. "Oh –" She holds the baby closer and says, "Thank you," as she walks up to the counter.

"Hello!" An older woman, wearing a hat with a feather in it, smiles at her through thick glasses. "Happy Halloween – arrrrr –" She tips her head and Sarah sees the black plastic eyepatch she is wearing. "And sorry about Luke –" she gestures at an overgrown, sullen man stuffed into a uniform. "He's always a little cranky this late."

_This late …_

Sarah frowns at the clock on the teller's side of the counter, next to a photo of the older woman embracing a woolly dog – _strange … _It is almost eight fifteen. _What kind of bank is open this late? – _but the teller is saying something.

"What can I do for you?"

For a moment, Sarah feels blank. Then she takes one hand from around the baby and reaches into one pocket – _a hole _– and then into the other – _an envelope_. She draws it out, and reads "Mortgage," written in an uneven hand.

"Here."

"Oh, a deposit?"

Sarah shakes her head, remembering. "A payment."

The baby sighs in its – another memory wisps through her mind – _her _sleep.

Keys click at the computer and something beeps. The teller's brow furrows. She glances from the screen to Sarah and then back again.

"Hm. Miss – Ms. Williams, could I just ask you to hold on here, one second?"

"Sure."

"Good." The teller gives her a bright smile. "I'll be right back." She quickly walks away.

"Fine …"

And Sarah looks back down at the child – _my child, this is my child …_

"Look at you," she whispers. "Look at you … Ten fingers, ten pretty fingers …" She runs her own index finger across the baby's ten – tiny and seashell pink. "Little girl …"

"Someone will be with you in a moment, if you have the time to talk with her about your mortgage." The teller, returning, speaks the words so quickly that Sarah almost doesn't catch her final – "Follow me, please." And the plumed hat bobs off from behind the counter, through the lobby, and to a row of dingy plastic chairs. "Just sit here with – oh …"

The baby has waved a fist in her sleep, and stuck it into her mouth.

"Oh," the teller breathes. "What's her name?"

Sarah thinks, remembers. "May."

"Beautiful." The other woman smiles at the baby and rises. "I have to get back, but someone will be right with you."

Watching her go, Sarah is caught off guard by a sudden weight of fatigue that settles around her shoulders. Her jaw cracks in a yawn and her stomach growls.

"Wow." She looks down and half-laughs to the baby: "That was a big one, wasn't it? I'm exhausted …"

Something brushes the back of her mind – something important …

But she is content to sit. To rest. To wait …

_Why is this a nightmare? _

Sarah must have dozed off, for when she opens her eyes again, a woman her age is standing in front of her.

"Ms. Williams?"

Another yawn cracks her jaw; she speaks through it. "Yes?"

"I need to speak to you, but our offices are full – will you come with me, please?"

Obediently, Sarah follows her to a shadowy corner of the lobby. The sounds of customers and the security guard, the shuffle of feet and clicks of keyboards, the ring of registers and the clock ticking – everything fades away.

The woman is wearing trousers, a blouse and a vest with embroidered trim. Her dark hair falls past her shoulders. Her hazel eyes are cool, impersonal.

"Ms. Williams," she says, quietly. "I regret to be the bearer of bad news. But your payment is insufficient for this month and does not begin to cover what is past due – so we have no choice but to foreclose on your home."

Sarah gasps. "What?"

"As I said, we have no choice but to foreclose on your home."

"No –" Her voice catches. "Please – you can't!"

"Ms. Williams –" The other tips her head slightly, raises her eyebrows. "This bank will foreclose on your house within the week, so please make alternate arrangements for yourself." She turns to leave.

"Wait – wait," Sarah chokes. "_Wait_ – It's my family home – I moved back here to take care of it after the accident, and I didn't know that my father had refinanced –" She sucks in a breath and speaks more urgently, desperately. "I've sold my car, I'm working third shift – I've pared every expense to the bone and I've made an extra payment every month." Tears spring to her eyes. "Everything you have wanted, I have done!"

The woman pauses.

Then she turns back, and speaks.

"Not everything."

Her hair is dark, so dark … Sarah cannot look away from her eyes – her eyes, which glow with triumph.

The woman smiles, and says: "Give me the child."

Sarah gasps, clutches the baby – _May _– tightly to her body. "No!"

The smile is pitiless. "Yes."

"_No_!" Sarah cries, and she turns, runs, and shoves the glass lobby door open –

– but there is no other door, only a sandstone wall, and the entryway is freezing cold, a cold that grasps her limbs and pulls _down_ as she sways on her feet.

_freezing cold – it's only Halloween …_

… _no, it's May …_

"May," she slurs. Sarah holds the baby close and slumps to the floor – and kicks the door shut, just before the other woman can follow her.

That woman looks down from her height through the glass, smiles, and taps her watch.

The baby is crying.

"Oh," Sarah says, "oh honey, oh May, I'm sorry –" for she knows that cry – "I know you're hungry, I know – but I don't have anything …"

Digging in her pockets, she pulls out a baby bottle. It falls with a hollow _clank _and rolls away. Then another, and another – all empty …

"May," she croaks. "There's nothing left …"

A _crack_ makes her look up. The woman is running one long fingernail across the glass – leaving a fracture in its wake –

Sarah sobs, and then looks back at May. The child's face is white, eyes sunken, eyelids and lips blue –

"No, baby girl –" Sarah opens her coat and shirt, hugs the child inside next to her skin, trying to warm her – trying to get her to nurse – but something is wrong and she stares down –

– and sees blood, pulsing from a gaping wound between her breasts.

"Ah." Her jaw sags. "My heart …"

Splintering glass makes her loll her head and look – the woman is clawing her way through, and there is blood on her hands as she says _– give me the child –_

Then Sarah remembers.

She licks her lips, tries to breathe. "Goblin King –"

The glass door has shattered completely and the woman is on the far side of the entryway, bloodied hands outstretched.

"Goblin King," Sarah whispers, "Goblin King …" – forgetting the line –

_damn I always forget that line _–

"Goblin King," she sobs. The other woman is moving slowly, so slowly in the cold, but coming closer. "Wherever you – ah –" Blood is everywhere and the baby shudders against her and stills. "Oh, my heart – Jareth – _Jareth _–"

And she sees his image, silvered, insubstantial, coalesce before her – he kneels to look into her eyes and his face has a terrible emotion written on it as clear as day –

_The other door, Sarah –_

She can hardly see past her tears. "Jareth, please –"

_The other door, the last door – behind you, Sarah_ – his face is so close to hers – _behind you –_

Sarah holds out the baby. "Take – from me –"

Jareth stares – but only for a split second. Then his features are lost in a sweep of silver light as he picks up the child and whirls onto his feet in one motion –

_The __**door**__, Sarah!_

The tattered cloak swirls with his movement, the other woman recoils as it sweeps over her – its silvered edge catches Sarah's face as the Goblin King vanishes – she falls backwards – back, and the woman grabs at the ankle of the other Sarah – the other Sarah, who dissolved into thin air with a flurry of rags and dust, as she herself fell back –

– back through the open door –

– which she could only kick shut, as the other screamed in rage, with what felt like the last of her strength.

* * *

Sarah lay in darkness.

She felt sand, and stones, cool and rough on the side of her face, as she brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

It was so quiet, so dark, and when she closed her eyes, she could not tell any difference from when they were wide open and staring.

She exhaled, then coughed, raggedly and heard the words slip from her, almost beyond her control.

"I can't do this."

Dust and sand turned her teeth gritty as she clenched them together, and sat up. "I can't – I can't do this –"

_I'm in the oubliette …_

"The oubliette," Sarah mumbled. "I can't go on – I can't – I _want _to forget. God, I want to forget it all …" A tear ran down her cheek; she wiped it away, even knowing her face would be muddy – and then she buried her head in her hands and sobbed. "I want to forget – I don't want to remember – I wish …"

… _wish …_

"What?" She scrubbed at her eyes. "… Hello?"

No response. _Maybe it was an echo …_

But then Sarah saw an image blossom out of the darkness: herself – there she was, in her linen dress at the museum; no, in a blue dress onstage – _no_, in a black dress, on a swing … and there was Jareth –

… _wish …_

The back of her neck prickled. "Wish?"Her voice was a croak. "Wish for what?"

A handsome figure stood in her memory, in jeans and scuffed shoes and a jacket, head tilted to one side – he was saying something, his lips were moving, and the words were like honey: _Sarah – Sarah – kiss me and all of your dreams and your wishes will come true_ – But there was another voice, rough and halting, as if wrenched in pain from the Goblin King's heart: _I hate you – I love you – my love –_

She shuddered in the cold dark. "No – I don't want to remember." She choked, "I wish –"

_Make a wish …_

And into her mind flashes _once upon a time fee fie foe fum three sisters twelve princesses Goblin King Goblin King glass slippers let down your hair nibble nibble like a mouse give me your voice give me your child give me your word your love your hand happily ever after –_

Sarah covered her ears. "_Stop_."

_Make a __**wish**__ …_

And there is ballroom full of whirling dancers, men and women dazzling in their finery, moving to music she cannot hear – but all their masks have eyes, and those eyes stare at her at her from every side, glittering –_ where have you gone, why are you gone? _And they dance faster, into a whirl of color and light that spins her away – where she does not have to think, or do, or say … only dance …

"No _dancing_," she gritted out between her teeth. "I don't want –"

_Wish_.

And there are her friends – Ludo and Sir Didymus and Hoggle, and everyone else, playing in her room – and there are her parents, and, and _Gran_ – smiling at the raucous party in her room, but Toby is there too and crowing victory in a duel, taking a spangled sword from a vanquished and chortling Sir Didymus – and she is happy, they are all laughing and nothing … _nothing_ can ever take that happiness from her …

"Oh." Sarah stared into the darkness. The oubliette was so cold, but her tears were warm; she gasped and coughed. "Please – please make it –"

_Stop_, she thought, weeping. _Let me forget,_ but –

_**Wish**_, she heard a gentle voice whisper. Except there was another voice – lower and rougher, whispering:_ My love … _

"_No_, Jareth, please," she choked against the oubliette's dust, "I _–_"

_Sarah, _she hears – and his voice is dark with secrets – except there are no secrets, because she _knows _him, and there is no darkness, because he looks at her with all the light of the all the worlds in his eyes, and he says, _My love – Sarah, my only love …_ The wings of his feathered cloak wrap around her; he holds her to his heart. And then Jareth kisses her and it's like everything, _everything_ she's ever wanted, and desired, and wished for … She takes him in her arms – she feels the wild bird struggling of his heart against her breast and he whispers against her lips: _My precious thing – my only love – how I love you, Sarah, forever …_

"_Please_, god, Jareth, just let me be – let me," Sarah twisted her hands into her hair and bent double where she sat, dragging in a breath. "I want to forget – and – I'll say the words –"

_Make a __**wish**__ … _the gentle voice hissed.

"I wish …" She leaned backwards against one rough wall, and coughed, "I wish –" but then winced as something dug into her back. Sarah reached behind her, still crying, and grabbed whatever it was –

_what is it?_

But she felt carefully, and knew almost immediately. Three smooth spirals, which she felt as bumps. It would be white and pink and gold – a seashell, which she had found at the beach. Her father had taken her there, that day. He had told her that her mother was leaving, but that they both loved her very much.

And although she had been a child, something had broken in her, then – or in the days, months, years after. Perhaps it had been her child's faith in the rightness of the world; perhaps her belief that happiness could never disappear. Or perhaps, though she had been a child … perhaps it had been her heart.

"My heart …" She held the seashell to one cheek, against her tears. "I want to forget …" She had found the shell and had run back with it to her father. He had tried to smile, but then had said _I have something to tell you_ –

_I have something to tell you_ –

Sarah's skin prickled. She heard a whisper, close to her ear – _something to tell you – ladies and gentlemen –_

"What?" she croaked. She squinted into the darkness – _nothing_ – and turned her head –

– which brought her ear right against the seashell, and she heard a distant voice say

_Briarwood, last stop –_

Sarah blinked, and remembered.

_Briarwood, last stop –_

She remembered everything.

_Briarwood, last stop, all for Briarwood. Please check for all your bags before leaving the train. _

"The train," she whispered. "My bags …"

Sarah could see nothing but darkness, but she _remembered_ …

She heard a gibbering, howling _scream _of rage, somewhere far away. Or the brakes – _it's the train_, she thought. _Has it stopped?_

Sarah got to her feet and took a careful step forward. "I have to get off the train, with my bags –" _meet me at your grandmother's house before the stroke of thirteen _– "Ow –"

She had barked her shin, and she bit her lip hard as her eyes watered with pain – _but I'm not crying anymore _…

"I need light." She heard the words bounce off the oubliette's walls. "Where can I get some light – ah –" Remembering, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket with the hand that did not hold the shell. She flicked the phone open.

A cold, blue light showed her dark rocks, dark shapes that might have been bones on the floor, and a long rectangle in front of her, edged in silver …

Sarah held up the phone, and saw a closed coffin.

She felt frozen to the spot – _I can't go on _– but then she saw the phone's digital display – 8:26 –

_Briarwood, last stop. End of the line_ – the voice from the shell whispered.

Sarah remembered his eyes, and his voice – _prove yourself stronger than your nightmares –_

"Yes," she said, voice low, and she walked forward and laid one hand on the coffin's lid.

It dissolved – she felt fear seize her heart – but then it turned into something else – _sorrow_ – as she saw her grandmother's face, smooth and peaceful in death.

"Oh, Gran …"

Her grandmother's hair, white, edged with the silver of magic, but tinged with blue in the light of the phone – Sarah laid one hand against that hair, and bent to kiss her cheek.

It was soft, and warm.

Sarah jerked back, eyes wide. She remembered - _I will save your grandmother, Sarah _–

"Yes, _yes_," she breathed. "Hold on, Gran. I'm coming. I haven't forgotten …"

It was hard, so hard, to wrest her eyes away from her grandmother's face, but she did. Sarah ran to the corner of the oubliette – _there it is, there _– stuffed the shell into her coat pocket, and grasped the handle of her suitcase.

"Where's my purse? Where –"

She held the phone up and looked around, wildly, and saw her purse, hanging with some coats and a scarf on a hook, on the door.

"Yes!"

Sarah dashed to the door, grabbed the purse's strap, and began to untangle it from the mass of dark hair as quickly as she could –

_dark hair _…

She gasped, and yanked her hands away.

What she thought a scarf was hair; what she thought were coats was one coat – her coat.

It was her body – _dead_ – hanging from the hook on the door. _Oh god oh god, if I touch her – me – I'll be dead – I'll die –_

Sarah did not have to listen to the shell to hear – _end of the line – end of the line._

_your mortal track comes to its end, precious thing …_

She looked at the time. 8:29.

And then Sarah gazed at herself, at the closed eyes deep in their sockets, at the white and dead features, framed by black hair.

She squared her shoulders.

"I'm stronger than my nightmares. I've come this far, and this is not the end. I remember …"

The words came to her mind so easily that she sighed, half in sorrow for what had been her own pain, half in hope for herself – _for Gran .._.

"They worked on him; they'll work on you."

Sarah looked her worst nightmare in the face.

"You have no power over me."

Then she stepped forward, took her purse and held her suitcase close, opened the door, walked out of the oubliette –

– and stepped down from the train, onto the solid stone of the station platform.

* * *

It felt surreal to watch the train pull out of the station, trundling to its resting track – but Sarah did so, sitting on her suitcase with her back against a metal beam. Then she closed her eyes. She felt too tired to stand.

"I did it," she whispered to herself. "Everything he said, everything …"

_Fetch me that crystal, precious thing …_

Sarah's eyes opened. The crystal. She had forgotten the crystal.

Before, she would have screamed, sobbed, cursed. But she had seen her worst nightmare and walked away … so Sarah waited, resting, trusting. Then she fell into a doze.

"Hey, lady –"

Sarah jerked awake. She saw the blonde girl from the train standing in front of her, holding out the red umbrella.

"You left this on the train."

Sarah smiled and took it from her. "Thanks, kid."

"No prob." And the girl jogged off to her grandmother, picked up the older woman's suitcase – a voice, scolding, floated across the platform to Sarah – "you do _not _just say "lady" – use "ma'am," or "miss," young lady –"

"Young lady!" The girl laughed and took her grandmother's hand.

Sarah watched them walk away. She turned her head back and looked up at the stars, clear and bright in the dark sky.

She held up the umbrella and shook it. "At least it's not raining."

The umbrella turned into a crystal in her hand.

She looked at it for a long minute. _I'm not afraid _… "To think that I forgot – and I thought I remembered everything." She quirked her mouth in a wry smile. "Some fairy tale heroine I make …"

Then she put the crystal in her pocket, stood, and gave her suitcase handle an experimental tug.

"Well … come on, feet."

Sarah looked down the station platform, to the dark line of road disappearing in the distant woods.

"To grandmother's house we go."

* * *

**tbc ...**


End file.
